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FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

HISTORY 

OF THE 

LIVES, SUFFERINGS, 

AND 

TEIUMPHAS"T DEATHS, 

OP THE 

PRIMITIVE AS WELL AS THE PROTESTANT MARTYRS, 



FROM THE 



COMMENCEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE LATEST 

PERIODS OF PAGAN AND POPISH 

PERSECUTION. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



An Account of the Inquisition ; the Bartholomew Massacre ; the 

Massacre in France, and General Persecution under Louis 

XIV.; the Massacres of the Iri^h Rebellion in the 

year 1641 ; and the recent persecutions of 

Protestants in the South of France. 



ORIGINALLY COMPOSED BY THE 

KEY. JOHN FOX, A.M. 

ILLUSTRATED EDITION, 
NEW YORK! 

HURST & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

NO. 122 NASSAU STREET. 



48 6555 

JUL 1 7 1942 



tf 



LIST OF ENGRAVINGS 



1 Frontispiece 

2 Vignette 

3 Martyrdom of St. Stephen 

4 Martyrdom of Symphorou* 

5 Primitive Martyrdom . 

6 Martyrdom of Denisa .... 

7 Vision of Constantine .... 

8 Female Martyrdom .... 

9 VValdenses in Calabria 

10 Waldenses in the valley of Piedmont 

11 Martyrdom of Marcus, Bishop of Arethusa 

12 Cruellies of the Inquisition 

13 Assassination of the Prince of Orange 

14 Butchery of seventy protestants . 

15 Martyrdom of Francis Gross 

16 Submission of the emperor Henry IV. to the pope 

17 Martyrdom of John Badby . 

18 Anne Boleyn . ... 

19 Martyrdom of six persons . 

20 Dress of male recanting penitent 

21 Dress of female recanting penitent 

22 Lady Jane Grey . 

23 Fxamination of Ridley and Latimer 
'l\ Burning of Ridley and Latimer . 

25 Burning of Cranmer 

26 Martyrdom of three women and an Ullailt 

27 Ruse Allen .... 

28 Cuthbert Simson tortured 

29 William Fetty scourged to death 

30 Martyrdom of five persons at Canterbury 

31 Martyrdom of Adelbert, bishop of Prague 

32 Discovery of Guy Fawkes . 

33 Massacre of protestants in Ireland 

34 Murder of Sir Edmundbury Go ifrejr . 



Pus 



6 
SI 
23 

36 

58 
79 



119 
143 

190 
192 
198 
214 
223 
266 
300 
363 
363 
365 
422 
425 
161 
472 
475 
477 
479 
482 
485 
488 
492 
498 



HISTORY 

OF 

CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM 



CHAPTER I. 



First Persecution of the Christians and Martyrdom of the 

Apostles. 

No prediction of our Saviour has been more strikingly 
fulfilled, than that which related to the persecution and 
sufferings of his people, by reason of their faithfulness 
and love to him. These things he bequeathed to them, 
as a portion of their inheritance in this world ; and, lest 
they should become disheartened at the complicated scenes 
of human misery that awaited them, he not only apprise 
them, that they should be hated of all men for is name sake, 
but pronounced a glorious benediction upon all such as 
should be found worthy to suffer on his account. These 
gracious promises he often repeated to them, during the 
days of his public ministry, and renewed them again after 
his glorious resurrection from the dead, accompanied with 
assurance of the aid and support of his Holy Spirit, which 
should dwell with them as a comforter until the end of the 
world : nor was it long after his ignominious death and 
glorious ascension to heaven, that they were brought to 
feel the truth of what he had so often told them. For. 
notwithstanding the purity of that religion that they pro- 
fessed, which taught them to live peaceably with all men, 
and to do unto others, as they would that others should 
do unto them ; still, inasmuch as its sublime doctrines and 
precepts were directly at war with the natural propensi- 
ties of the human heart, and set forth the one Living and 
True God as the only object of adoration, through Jesus 







fox's book of martyrs. 



Christ his only begotten son ; the enmity and rage of both 
Tews and heathens, was soon aroused against them. 

From the time of the crucifixion of our Saviour, to the 
dav of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days after, it ap- 
pears that the Apostles, together with the other disciples 
of Jesus, enjoyed a respite from persecution, and were 
suffered to assemble themsel /es together for worship un- 
molested ; but when on that memorable day, they spoke 
boldly in the name of Jesus, and their converts began to 
be numbered by thousands, the envy and bigotry of theii 
Jewish friends were at once awakened, and a regular sys 
tem of persecution and opposition to the progress of the 
gospel was commenced. 

This, however, was for a while carried on by gentle 

means, which proving ineffectual, the increasing enmity 

r)f the people at length b.roke out into open outrage, and 

more than two thousand Christians perished within the city 

i' Jerusalem. 

St. Stephen. 




Martyrdom of St. Stephen. 

This eminent samt, was the first who suffered death foi 
embracing the religion of Jesus Christ, and therefore was 
crowned with the immortal honour of being the man who 
led the van of that glorious band of Christian martyrs thai 
soon followed after. 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 7 

He was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus, and was 
chosen, with six others, to officiate as deacon in the church 
at Jerusalem. Being a very zealous and faithful witness 
for his Lord and Master : several of the principal persons 
belonging to five of the Jewish synagogues, entered into 
an argument with him, on the principles of the religioi/ 
that he professed, and being unable to withstand the 
soundness of his doctrines, were greatly irritated ; and to 
gratify their revenge, they suborned false witnesses, who 
accused him of blaspheming God, and the law of Moses. 
He was accordingly brough: before a council, when he 
made a noble defence, proving from the scripture of the 
Old Testament, that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had cru- 
cified and slain, was no other than the true Messiah. At 
this they were very much enraged, and were about to pass 
sentence upon him, when he saw a vision from , heaven, 
disclosing to his view, the Lord and Saviour in his glori- 
fied state. He exclaimed in rapture, " Behold I see the 
heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right 
hand of God." Still more enraged at this, they immedi- 
ately passed sentence upon him, and dragged him out 
and stoned him to death. He died like his divine Master, 
imploring mercy for his murderers ; saying, " Lord, lay 
not this sin to their charge." On the place where he was 
martyred, the Empress Eudocia afterward caused a mag- 
nificent church to be erected to his memory. Being put 
to death, on the 26th day of December, it is consequently 
observed in commemoration of this event. 

St. James the Great. 

This disciple was by birth a Galilean, and the son of 
Zebedee, a fisherman. He was also the elder brother of 
John, and related to the Lord himself; his mother, Selome, 
being cousin-german to the Virgin Mary. Being on? 
day engaged with his father, fishing in the sea of Galilee 
he was called by the Saviour, with his brother John, tc 
become his disciple. They cheerfully obeyed the man- 
date, and leaving their father in the vessel, became the fol- 
lowers of Jesus. 

It is to be observed, that their Divine Master, placed 
greater confidence in them together with the apostle Pe 



8 fox's rook of martyrs. 

ter, than in the rest of his disciples ; as he always took 
them with him, to the exclusion of the rest, when he was 
about to make any peculiar disclosure of his power. He 
also surnamed these two brothers, Boanerges, which means, 
sons of thunder ; by reason of their vigorous minds and 
impetuous temper. 

When Herod Agrippa was made Governor of Judea, to 
ingratiate myself with his Jewish subjects, he raised a 
persecution against the christians. James was accord- 
ingly singled out as the first object of his vengeance 
whom he condemned to be beheaded. But such was his 
constancy and serenity of mind, that his accuser was struck 
with admiration, and became a convert to Christianity. 
This transition so enraged the multitude who had assem- 
bled to witness the execution, that, with one voice they 
cried out, let him die also : and they were accordingly 
both beheaded together. This event took place, A. d. 44, 
and on the 25th day of July ; which is observed in com- 
memoration of this saint. About this time, Timon and 
Parmonas, two of the seven deacons, suffered martyrdom , 
the former at Corinth, and the latter at Phillipi, in Ma 
cedonia. 

St. Phillip. 

This apostle was born at Bethsaida, in Galilee, and 
was the first called by the name of disciple. He was em- 
ployed in several important missions by Jesus, and, after 
his resurrection, was deputed to preach the Gospel in 
Upper Asia. After labouring for some time in this place, 
he travelled into Phrygia, where he found the inhabitants 
so sunk in idolatry as to worship a large serpent. He, 
however, succeeded in converting many of them to Chris- 
tianity, and procured the death of the serpent. This so 
enraged the heathen priests and magistrates, that they first 
committed him to prison, after which he was taken out and 
severely scourged, and finally crucified. His friend Bar- 
tholomew found an opportunity of taking down his body 
and burying it, for which he narrowly escaped the same 
fate. His crucifixion took place May 1, a. d. 52 ; which 
day, together with that of St. James the Less, is observed 
in commemoration of the event. 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 9 

St. Matthew. 

This apostie and evangelist was born in Nazareth of 
Galilee, but resided chiefly in Capernaum ; where he wag 
a collector of toll, or tribute, from such as had occasion 
to pass the sea of Galilee. On being called as a disciple, 
he immediately obeyed ; leaving every thing beside, to 
become a follower of Christ. After the ascension of his 
master, he continued preaching the gospel in Judea, for 
nearly nine years. As he was about to leave them, for 
the purpose of preaching to the Gentiles, he wrote his gos- 
pel in Hebrew ; which he left behind, for the use of 
is Jewish converts. He then travelled into Ethiopia ; 
;vhere he made many converts and established severa* 
churches. He afterwards visited Parthia, and met with 
the like success ; but, on returning to Ethiopia, he was 
slain with a halbert, in the city of Madabar, A. D. 60. 
The 21st day of September is observed in commemoration 
of his death- 

St: Mark. 

This Evangelist and martyr was of the tribe of Levi, 
and is supposed to have been a convert of St. Peter, whom 
he served as an amanuensis. Being desired by the con- 
verts at Rome to commit to writing the admirable dis- 
courses they had heard from St. Peter and himself, he 
composed his gospel, which was first written in the Greek 
language. He then went to Egypt, and, after establishing 
the church at Alexandria, travelled into Lybia, where he 
also made many converts. On returning again to Alex- 
andria, some of the Egyptians, exasperated at his success, 
determined to put him to death. They therefore tied his 
feet, and dragged him through the streets till he was nearly 
dead ; when they cast his mangled body into prison, where 
he soon after expired. His body was taken out, on tho 
following day, and burned. This occurred on the 25th day 
of April, which is dedicated to his memory. After the 
burning of his body, his bones were gathered up by the 
Christians, and afterward carried to Venice, of which city 
he is considered the patron saint. 



10 fox's book of martyrs. 

St. James the Less. 

This Apostie was so denominated to distinguish mm 
Prom the other James, who was called iie Great. He was 
the son of Joseph, the reputed father of the Lord, by hi« 
first wife, and is therefore called the Lord's brother. After 
the resurrection and ascension of Christ, he was elected 
bishop of the church at Jerusalem ; and afterwards wrote 
his general epistle, to counteract a dangerous doctrine 
that was propagating, viz. : " that Faith in Christ was 
alone sufficient for salvation without good works." After 
this the Jews, being greatly exasperated that St. Paul had 
escaped their fury, by appealing to Rome, determined to 
wreak their vengeance on James, who was now ninety- 
four years old. They accordingly cast him down from a 
pinnacle of the temple, after which they beat out his brains 
with a fuller's club. His festival, together with that of St. 
Phillip, is kept on the first day of May. 

St. Matthias. 

This Apostle was called to that office, by the other 
Apostles, after the death of Christ to supply the place of 
Judas the apostate. He had been one of the seventy dis- 
ciples and his character was eminent for piety. He suf- 
fered martyrdom at Jerusalem, being first stoned and then 
beheaded. The 24th day of February is dedicated to his 
memory. 

St. Andrew. 

This Apostle was the brother of St. Peter, and preached 
the gospel to several of the Asiatic nations. On arriving 
at Edessa the governor of the country named Egeas, 
threatened him for preaching against the idols then wor- 
shipped. St. Andrew, persisting in the propagation of his 
doctrines, was ordered to be crucified on a cross, two ends 
of which were placed transversely in the ground ; he boldly 
told his persecutors that he would not have preached the 
glory of the cross had he have feared to die upon it. And 
again, when he came to be crucified, he said that he covet 
ed the cross, and longed to die upon it. He was accord 



fox's book of martyrs. 11 

mgly fixed upon it, not with nails "but with cords, that his 
death might be move slow. In this manner he continued 
nearly tw) days, preaching the greater part of the time, 
till his strength finally failed him, and he died on the 30th 
of November, which is commemorated as his festival. 

St. Peter. 

This apostle was born in Bethsaida in Galilee, being 
the son of Jonah, a fisherman, which employment he 
also followed. He was persuaded by his brother An- 
drew, to become a follower of Christ, who gave him the 
name of Cephas : which implies, in the Syriac language, a 
rock. He was called to be an apostle, at the same time 
with his brother Andrew, and gave uncommon proof of his 
zeal and faithfulness to Christ, notwithstanding his fears, 
on one occasion, so far overcame him that he denied him. 

After the death of Christ, the Jews, still continuing to 
persecute his followers, ordered Peter, with several of the 
other apostles, to be scourged. This they bore with pa- 
tience, rejoicing that they were found worthy to suffer for 
the sake of their Redeemer. 

When Herod Agrippi had caused James the Great to 
be put to death, because it pleased the Jews, he proceeded 
next against Peter, and cast him into prison ; intending, after 
the festival of Easter, to bring him out to suffer a public 
execution. And the better to secure him, had appointed 
sixteen soldiers to keep constant watch at the door of the 
prison. But an angel appeared to Peter on the evening 
preceding the day appointed for his execution, and de- 
livered him out of prison ; at which Herod was so much 
enraged, that he caused the soldiers to be put to death. 

St. Peter after various other miracles, retired to Rome, 
where he defeated all the artifices, and confounded 
the magic of Simon Magus, a great favourite of the Em- 
peror Nero. ' He also converted to Christianity one of the 
favourite concubines of that monarch, which so exasper- 
ated him, that he caused both him and Paul to be appre- 
hended. . During the time of their confinement, they con- 
verted two of the Captains of the guard to Christianity, 
with forty-seven others. Having been nine months in 
prison, Peter was brought out from thence and after being 



12 fox's book of martyrs. 

severely scourged, was crucified with his head downwards. 
This position was, however, of his own choice, as he 
counted himself unworthy to suffer in the same manner as 
did his master. His festival is observed on the 29th day 
cf June, on which day he as well as St. Paul suffered. His 
body was taken down, embalmed, and buried in the Vati- 
can, over which a splendid church was erected. This 
was, however, destroyed by the Emperor Heliogabalus, and 
the body removed, till Cornelius, the twentieth Bishop of 
Rome, had it again returned, and Constantine the Great, 
erected one of the most magnificent churches in the world 
over the place. Previous to the death of St. Peter, his 
wife suffered martyrdom for her faith in Christ, and be- 
haved with great calmness and constancy. 

St. Paul 

This apostle was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, born at 
Tarsus, in Cilicia, and before his conversion, was called 
Saul. He was at first a great enemy and persecutor of 
the Christians, and a principal promoter of the death of St. 
Stephen. Going to Damascus, soon after for the purpose 
of arresting all such as he should find calling upon the 
name of the Lord, suddenly a light from heaven shone 
round about him, accompanied with a voice, saying, 
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me." At this he 
was struck to the ground, and smitten with blindness during 
three days. Immediately after his recovery, he became 
a professor and an apostle. During his labours in 
spreading the gospel, he converted to the faith, Sergius 
Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus ; on which account he took 
his name, and, as some suppose, was from thence called 
Paulus instead of Saulus. After his many labours he 
took with him Barnabus and went up to Jerusalem, to Peter, 
James, and John, where he was ordained and sent out to 
preach to the Gentiles. At Iconium, he and Barnabus 
were near being stoned to death by the enraged Jews, and 
fled from thence to Lystra. Here they were stoned, 
dragged out of the city, and left for dead. They however 
revived and escaped to Derbe. At Phillip:, they were 
imprisoned and whipped, and afterward greatly persecuted 
at Thessalonica. Being afterward taken at Jerusalem, 



pox's book op martyrs. 13 

Pai. was sent to Cesarea, but appealing to Cesar, he was 
sent to Rome. Here lie was detained for a while as a 
prisoner at large, but being at length released, he visited 
the churches in Rome, and in Greece, and travelled into 
France and Spain. Returning again to Rome, he was a 
second time apprehended, and by the order of Nero, was 
beheaded with a sword. Two days are dedicated to this 
apostle, one in commemoration of his conversion, and the 
other of his death ; the first being the 25th of January, and 
the other 29th of June. 

St. Jude. 

This apostle was the brother of James the Less, and is 
also called Thaddeus. Being sent to Edessa, he wrought 
many miracles, and made many converts, which, stirring 
up the resentment of the people he was crucified, a. d. 
72, on the 28th day of October, which is dedicated to his 
memory. 

St, Bartholomew. 

This apostle preached in many countries, healed many 
diseases, and performed other miracles. He finally tra- 
velled into India, when he translated the gospel into the 
Indian language, and made many converts in that country. 
But the idolaters becoming weary of his preaching, first 
scourged, then crucified him, and then cut off his head. 
The anniversary of his martyrdom, is on the 24th of 
August. 

St. Thomas, 

This apostle was called, in his native language, 
Thomas, but in the Syriac, Didymus. He preached in 
Parthia and India ; where, displeasing the Pagan priests, 
he was thrust through with a spear. His martyrdom is 
commemorated on the 21st of December. 

St. Luke the Evangelist. 

This eminent saint was the author of the Gospel that 
% 



14 

bears his name, as also of the Acts of the Apostles. He 
tiavelled with St. Paul, to Rome, and preached to several 
barbarous nations. He was, however, finally hanged, on 
an olive tree, by order of the heathen priests of Greece. 
The anniversary of his martyrdom, is on the 18th of Oc- 
tober. 

St, Simon. 

This apostle was distinguished for his zeal, by the name 
of Zelotes. He preached with great success in Mauritania, 
and other parts of Africa, and even in Britain ; where, 
though he made many converts, he was finally crucified, 
a. d. 74. The anniversary of his death, together with 
that of St. Jude, is commemorated on the 28th day of 
October. 

St. John. 

This eminent saint was distinguished for being a 
prophet, apostle, evangelist, divine, and martyr. He is 
called the beloved disciple, and was brother to James the 
Great. He was first a disciple of Johu the Baptist, and 
was not only afterward one of the twelve apostles, but 
one of the three to whom Christ communicated the most 
secret passages of his life. He founded the churches of 
Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardia, Philadelphia, Laodicia, and 
Thyatira, to whom he directed his book of Revelations. 
Being at Ephesus, he was ordered by the Emperor Domi- 
tian, to be sent bound to Rome, where he was condemn- 
ed to be cast into a caldron of boiling oil. But here a 
miracle was wrought in his favour, as he sustained no in- 
jury from the oil ; upon which he was sent to the island 
of Patmos, to work in the mines. He was afterwards re- 
called by Nerva who succeeded Domitian, but was deemed 
a martyr on account of having undergone an execution 
though it did not take effect. He wrote his Gospel, 
Epistle, and Revelations all in a different style, but they are 
*11 equally admired. He wastlie only apostle who escaped a 
violent death, and lived the longest of any of them ; being 
nearly a hundred years old at his death. The 27th da^ 
of December, is kept in commemoration of his death 



fox's book of martyrs. 15 

St. Barnabas. 

This saint was a native of the island of Cyprus, but was 
6orn of Jewish parents. The time of his death is uncer- 
tain ; but is supposed to have occurred a. d. 73. His fes- 
tival is observed on the 11th of June. 



CHAPTER II 

The first four Primitive Persecutions under the Roman 
Emperors, 



Persecution under Nero. 

The first persecution in the primitive ages of the 
church was began by the cruel and tyrannical Nero, the 
sixth emperor of Rome, in a.*d. 67. This emperor reigned 
for five years with tolerable credit to himself, after which 
he gave way to the greatest extravagance of temper, and 
to the most atrocious barbarities. Among many other 
diabolical outrages, he ordered that the city of Rome 
should be set on fire ; which was done by his officers, 
guards, and servants. While the city was in flames, he 
went up to the tower of Merenas played upon his harp, 
and sang the song of the burning of Troy ; and declared, 
" That he wished the ruin of all things before his death." 
Among the noble buildings burned, was the circus, or place 
appropriated to horse races. It was half a mile in length, 
of an oval form, with rising seats on either side, and ca- 
pable of containing upward of one hundred thousand spec- 
tators. Many other houses and palaces were consumed, and 
several thousand of the inhabitants perished in the flames 

This terrible conflagration continued nine days without 
intermission ; and when the tyrant saw that his conduct 
was greatly blamed by the people, he so managed as to 
fix the odium upon the Christians ; which gave him an 
oppomnity of witnessing new cruelties. A furious perse- 
cution was accordingly commenced, and the sufferings of 
the Christians were such as to excite the compassion of 



16 POX'S BOOR OP MAHTVUS. 

the heathens themselves. Some were sewed up in tht 
skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs ; others 
were dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, then suspended 
on poles and set on fire, in the gardens of the palace. 
This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman 
Empire ; but it rather increased than diminished the spirit 
of Christianity. Beside St. Peter and St. Paul, many o. 
their most distinguished converts, whose names have not 
been handed down to posterity, were among the sufferers. 
We shall therefore notice only those whose history is wel. 
authenticated. 

Erastus, the chamberlain of Corinth, was converted by 
St. Paul, and determined to follow the fortunes of that 
apostle. For this purpose he resigned his office, and ac- 
companied him in his voyages and travels, till he was left 
by the apostle in Macedonia ; where he was first made 
bishop of that province, and afterward suffered martyrdom, 
being tortured to death by the pagans at Philippi. 

Aristarchus, the Macedonian, was born in Thessalonica, 
and being converted by Paul, became his constant com- 
panion. He was with that apostle at Ephesus, during the 
commotion raised by Demetrius, the silversmith. He also 
accompanied him into Greece, where they were very 
successful in propagating the gospel, and bringing ovei 
many to Christianity. Having left Greece, they traversed 
a great portion of Asia Minor and Judea. After this he 
accompanied St. Paul to Rome, where he suffered the 
same fate as that apostle, being beheaded with a sword. 

Trophinus, an Ephesian by birth, and a Gentile by 
religion, was converted by St. Paul to Christianity, and 
accompanied him in his travels. On his account, the Jews 
raised a great disturbance in the temple at Jerusa- 
lem, the last time he was in that city, because the 
apostle introduced him into the temple. But being res- 
cued by the centurion, he accompanied his master to Rome, 
and afterwards into Gaul ; where he was made bishop, 
and left in the city of Airus. On the following year he 
visited St. Paul, at Rome, and accompanied him into 
Asia, but on his return to that city he was beheaded, a 
few days after the death of his master- 
Joseph commonly called Barsabn? was a primitive dis- 
ciple, and by some is supposed to have been one of the 



FOX S HO OK OF MARTYRS. IT 

seventy. He was a distant relation of the Redeemei ; and 
was a candidate, together with Matthias, for the apostle- 
ship, left vacant by Judas Iscariot. He was, dtwinsf his 
life, a very zealous preacher of the gospel, and having 
suffered many insults from the Jews, was at length put to 
death by the Pagans in Judea. 

Ananias, bishop of Damascus, is celebrated in scrip 
ture for being the person who cured wSt. Paul of his blind- 
ness, occasioned by the brightness of the vision at the 
time of his conversion. He was one of the seventy disc < 
pies, and was martyred in the city of Damascus. After 
his death, a Christian church was erected over the place of 
al, which is now converted into a Turkish Mosque. 

Persecution under Domitian. 

The Emperor Domitian was naturally cruel, and aftei 
having slain his brother, he raised a persecution against 
the Christians. He commanded all the lineage of David 
to be slain ; hoping, by this means, to stop the progress of 
Christ's kingdom, which he was taught to consider as a 
temporal kingdom. 

Among the numerous martyrs who suffered during his 
persecution, was Simon, bishop of Jerusalem, who was 
crucified. St. John, who was cast into a caldron of oil, 
and afterward banished to the island of Patmos ; and 
Flavia, the daughter ofa Roman Senator, who was banished 
to Pontus. A law, was also enacted, that no Christians 
once brought before the tribunal should be exempted from 
punishment, without renouncing their religion. 

During this reign, there were a variety of tales invented, 
for the purpose of injuring the reputation of the Christians. 
Among other things they were accused of meeting together 
for the grossest immorality, of murdering their children, 
and even of eating them. They were also accused of 
being rebellious, and opposed to the Roman Government. 
And when any calamity befel any portion of the Roman 
Empire, such as earthquakes, pestilence, or famine, it 
was imputed solely to their impiety. 

These persecutions increased the number of informers, 
who, for the sake of sain, swore away the lives of many 
eminent persons. When Christians were brought before 

2* 



!§ fOX 9 S BOOft OF MAfcTYfeS. 

a magistrate on the charge of being such, they were colli* 
manded to taks the attest oath, which if they refused, sen- 
tence of deatn was immediately passed on them, and if 
they confessed themselves to be Christians, the result was 
the same. 

The various kinds of punishment inflicted were im- 
prisonment, confiscation of property, banishment, broiling 
them upon slow fires, racking, burning, scourging, stoning, 
hanging, and worrying with dogs and wild beasts. Many 
were torn piecemeal with red hot pincers, and others 
were thrown upon the horns of furious bulls. 

After having suffered these cruelties, the friends of the 
deceased were even forbidden to burn or bury their re- 
mains. The following are the most remarkable of the 
numerous martyrs who suffered during this persecution. 

Dionysius the Areopagite, was an Athenian by birth, 
and educated in all the useful and ornamental branches of 
Grecian literature. He travelled into Egypt, to study 
astronomy, and made very particular observations on the 
supernatural eclipse that occurred at the time of our 
Saviour's crucifixion. On his return to Athens he was 
highly honoured by the people, and at length promoted to 
the dignity of senator in that celebrated city. Becoming 
a convert to the gospel, he changed from a worthy Pagan 
magistrate to a faithful Christian pastor, for even while in- 
volved in the darkness of idolatry, he was highly honoured 
for his just and benevolent principles. After his conver- 
sion, the sanctity of his life was such as recommended him 
strongly to the love and honour of the Christian brethren 
and he was accordingly appointed bishop of Athens. He 
discharged his duty with the utmost diligence, till the 
second year of this persecution, viz.: a. d. 69, when he 
received the crown of martyrdom by being beheaded. 

Nicomedeo, a Christian of some distinction at Rome, 
during the reign of Domitian, made great efforts to serve 
the afflicted, by comforting the poor, visiting those con- 
fined, exhorting the wavering, and confirming the faithful. 
For those and other pious actions, he was seized as a 
Christian, and being sentenced was scourged to death. 

Protaiius: and Grevusius were martyred at Milan, but 
the particular circumstances attending the" deaths are not 
recorded. 



frors BOOK OP MAttTYftS. 10 

Timothy the celebrated disciple of St. Paul, and bishop 
of Ephesus, was born at Lystra, in the province of 
Lycaonia. His father was a Gentile, and his mother a 
Jewess, but both his parents and his grandmother embra- 
ced Christianity, by which means he was taught from his 
infancy the precepts of the gospel. When St. Paul ar- 
rived at Lycaonia, he ordained Timothy, and made him 
the companion of his labours. He mentions him with pe- 
culiar respect, and declares that he could find no one so 
truly united to him, both in heart and mind. Timothj 
attended St. Paul to Macedonia, where, with that apostle 
and Silas, he Laboured in propagating the gospel. St. Paul 
went from thence to Achaia, but he was left behind to 
strengthen the faith of those already converted. St. Paul at 
length sent for him to Athens, and thence despatched him to 
Thessalonica, to preach to the suffering Christians there, 
against the terrors of the persecution that then prevailed. 
Having performed his mission, he returned to Athens, and, 
there assisted St. Paul and Silas in composing the two 
Epistles to the Thessalonians. He then accompanied St. 
Paul to Corinth, Jerusalem, and Ephesus. After per- 
forming several other commissions for St. Paul, and at- 
tending him on various journeys, the apostle constituted 
him bishop of Ephesus, though he was only thirty years 
of age, and in two admirable epistles gave him proper in- 
structions for his conduct. He was so very temperate in 
his living, that St. Paul blamed him for being too abste- 
mious, and recommended to him the moderate use of wine, 
to recruit his strength and spirits. 

While that great apostle was in his last confinement at 
Rome, he desired Timothy to come to him. He after- 
ward returned to Ephesus, where hi zealously governed 
the church, till a. d. 97. At this period the Pagans 
were about to celebrate a feast called Catagogion, the 
principal ceremonies of which were, that the people 
should carry sticks in their hands, go masked, and bear 
about the streets, the images of their Gods. Timothy 
met the procession, and severely reproved them for their 
ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated them, that they 
fell upon him with their clubs, and beat him in so dread- 
ful a manner, that he expired of the bruises two days 
after. 



20 fox's BOOK 01* MART/RS. 

Persecution under Trajan. 

Between Lie second and third Roman persecutions was 
but one year. Upon Nerva succeeding Domitian, he showed 
respect to the Christians, but reigned only ten months. 
His successor, Trajan, in the tenth year of his reign, and 
in the year of our Lord 108, began the third persecution 
against them. While this persecution raged, Plinius Se- 
cundus a heathen philosopher, wrote to the Emperor in 
favour of the Christians, stating that he found nothing ob- 
jectionable in their conduct, and that the whole sum of their 
errors consisted in this, that they were wont at certain times 
appointed to meet before day, in the morning, to worship 
one Christ, their God, and to confederate among themselves 
to abstain from all theft, murder, and adultery, to keep their 
faith, and to defraud no man, which done, they departed 
for that time, and having agreed to come together again 
to commune one with another, and yet without any act 
of evil. To this epistle, Trajan returned the follow- 
ing indecisive answer : " That Christians ought not 
to be sought after, but when brought before the magis- 
tracy they should be punished." Provoked by this an 
swer, Tertullian exclaimed, " Oh ! confused sentence, 
lie would not have them sought for, as innocent men, 
and yet would have them punished as guilty.'* The Em- 
peror's incoherent answer, however, occasioned the persecu- 
tion, in some measure, to abate ; as his officers were uncer- 
tain, if they carried it on with severity, how he might choose 
to explain his own meaning. Trajan, however, soon 
wrote to Jerusalem, and gave orders to exterminate the 
stock of David ; in consequence of which, all that could be 
found of that race were put to death. 

About this period, the Emperor Trajan, was succeeded 
by Adrian, who continued the persecution with the greatest 
rigour. 

Phocas, bishop of Pontus, refusing to sacrifice to Nep- 
tune, was, by the immediate order of Trajan, cast first 
into a hot lime kiln, and being drawn from thence, was 
thrown into a scalding bath, till he expired. 

Trajan likewise commanded the martyrdom of Ignatius, 
bishop of Antioch. This holy man was the person whom, 
when an infant, Christ took into his arms, and showed 



MARTYRS. 2 J 

to his disciples, as one that would be a pattern of humility 
and innocence. lie received the gospel afterwards by St. 
Paul the Evangelist, and was exceedingly zealous in his 
mission. He boldly vindicated the faith of Christ before 
the Emperor, for which he was cast into prison, and was 
tormented in a cruel manner, and after being dreadfully 
scourged, he was compelled to hold fire in his hands, and 
at the same time, papers dipped in oil were put to his sides 
and set on fire. His flesh was then torn with red hot pin- 
cers, and at last he was despatched by wild beasts. 
Ignatius had a timely information or presentiment of his fate ; 
for writing to Polycarp at Smyrna, he says, " Would to 
God, I were once come to the beasts which are prepared for 
me, which, also, I wish that they with gaping mouths were 
ready, whom also I will seek, that they without delay, 
may devour me. And if they will not, unless they be 
provoked, I will then enforce them against myself." 




Martyrdom of Synipfiorasa. 

Symphorasa, a widow, and her seven sons were coni- 
. /landed by Trajan to sacrifice to the heathen Deities; 
nut on refusing to comply, he ordered her to be hung up 
by the hair of her head, after which a weight was attached 
to her neck, and she was cast into the river. Her sons 
were then put upon the rack, and their limbs dislocated, 
but as these tortures did not affect their resolution, they 
were out to death. 



22 

About this time Alexander, bishop of Rome, after filling 
that office for about ten years, was put to death, with two 
of his deacons, and also Hermes Guirinus, and Zenon, 
a Roman noblemen, with about ten thousand others. 

Many were crucified on Mount Ararat, crowned with 
thorns in imitation of the crucifixion of the Saviour. 
Among these was a distinguished military commander, 
who was commanded to sacrifice, in honour of vic- 
tories gained by himself, but refusing to comply, he was 
martyred with his whole family. 

During this persecution occurred the martyrdom of 
Fastines, and Jovita, two brothers of the city of Brescia, 
their patience was such under their complicated sufferings, 
that Calconis a Pagan, was struck with admiration, and call- 
ed out, " great is the God of the Christians," for which, he 
was immediately apprehended, and put to death with them. 
This persecution continued till Guadratus, bishop of 
Athens, and Aristides, a distinguished philosopher of the 
same city, addressed each a very learned apology to 
Adrian in favour of the Christians, who immediately there- 
after relaxed his severities, so far as to command that no 
Christians should be punished merely for their opinions. 
But the enemies of Christianity, among which were a great 
many Jews, sought other means of gratifying their malign- 
ity, by suborning witnesses, and accusing them of other 
crimes. 

Adrian died a. d. 138 or 139, which was several years 
after he had discontinued his persecutions against the 
Christians. He was succeeded by Antoninus Pius. This 
Emperor possessed by nature so amiable a disposition, 
that he was termed by his subjects, " the father of virtues." 
Immediately after ascending the throne, he published an 
edict with these words, " If any should hereafter vex or 
accuse the Christians, having no other cause but that 
they are such, let the accused be released, and the accuser 
be punished." This put a final stop to the persecution, 
which until this time was continued in many parts of the 
Empire, and the Christians enjoyed a respite from their 
sufferings during this Emperor's reign. Such was the 
goodness of this Emperor's heart, that he often declared 
that the preservation of one subject gave him more 
pleasure than the destruction of a thousand enemies, 



FON S BOOK OF MARTVRS. 



23 



Persecution under the Emperors Marcus Aurclius 
and Commodus. 




Primitive Martyrdom. 

Antoninus Pius was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius 
under whom was commenced, what is usually termed the 
fourth persecution, which raged with the greatest violence 
in the Asiatic churches, and in France. 

Such were the cruelties with which this persecution 
was characterized, that many of the spectators shuddered 
at the sight, and were astonished at the intrepidity of the 
sufferers. Some of the martyrs were compelled to pass 
with naked feet over thorns and nails, others were scourged 
till the veins and sinews were laid bare, and after sufferL. 
the most excruciating tortures, were finally put to death by 
the most horrid cruelty. 

Germanicus, a young man of Smyrna, who had em- 
braced the Christian faith, was given to be devoured by 
wild beasts,but behaving with great courage and fortitude, 
several were struck with admiration, and embraced the 
Christian faith. 

At this, the persecutors were so much enraged, that 
they determined to extirpate the Christians from that 
city, and they immediately cried out, " let Polycarp be 
sought after," who, k will be recollected, was the first 
bishop of the cnurch, at Smyrna. 



24 fox's book of martyrs. 

Po.ycarp on hearing that he was sought after, escaped 
to a small village in the country, but was soon discovered 
and brought back to Ephesus. Nor did he express any 
reluctance to return, as he dreamed, about that time, that 
his bed took fire, and that he was consumed in a moment. 
From this he concluded it was the will of God that he 
should suffer martyrdom, and he accordingly awaited his 
death, with a becoming firmness and resignation. 

Those who apprehended him, were so forcibly struck 
with his venerable appearance and gravity, that they 
earnestly besought him to save his "Jife by abjuring Christ. 
He thanked them for the interest which they manifested 
in his welfare, but declared that he could never forsake a 
master, who had shown him nothing but kindness. After 
feasting them, he desired an hour for prayer, which was 
granted him, and such was his fervour, that they seriously 
repented having taken any part in his death. He was 
however, first taken before the proconsul, and condemned 
to be burnt in the public market place. He was accord- 
ingly bound to a stake, and the faggots with which he was 
surrounded set on fire, but when it became so hot that 
the soldiers were compelled to retire, he continued pray- 
ing and singing praises to God for a long time. The 
flames raged with great violence, but still his body re- 
mained unconsumed, and shone like burnished gold. It is 
also said, that a grateful odour like that of myrrh, arose from 
the fire, which so much astonished the spectators, that many 
of them were by that means converted to Christianity. 
His executioners finding it impossible to put him to death 
by fire, thrust a spear into his side, from which the blood 
flowed in such a quantity, as to extinguish the flame. His 
body was then consumed to ashes, by order of the procon- 
sul lest his followers should make it an object of adora- 
tion. 

He was nearly a hundred years old when he suffered, 
having been a disciple of Christ eighty-six years, and se- 
venty years a bishop. He was a convert of St. John the 
Evangelist, and by him was constituted bishop of Smyrna 

Metrodorus, a minister who preached boldly, and 
Bronius, who wrote several apologies in behalf of the 
Christians, were also burnt about the same time. Carpus 
and Papilus, two worthy Christians, and Agathonica, a 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 555 

,)ious woman, suffered martyrdom at Pergamapolis in 
Asia, at about the same period. 

Felicitas, an illustrious Roman lady, had seven sons, 
who together with their mother, had embraced the Chris- 
tian faith. x\s various parts of the empire were visited 
with earthquakes, the cause was imputed to the impiety 
of the Christians, toward the Gods. 

Felicitas and her sons were accordingly apprehended, 
and great efforts were at first made to induce them to re- 
cant, but all to no purpose. They were next threatened 
with death if they still persisted in their obstinacy, but 
they treated these threats with as much contempt as they 
had done the promises. They were accordingly senten* 
ced to death, and all perished together on a scaffold. 

Justin, the celebrated philosopher, fell a martyr in tnis 
persecution. He was a native of Neapolis, in Samaria, 
and was born a. d. 103. He was well versed in every 
branch of literature, and travelled into Egypt for the pur- 
pose of gaining a further stock of knowledge. At Alex- 
andria, he was informed of every thing respecting the se- 
venty interpreters of the holy scriptures, and shown the 
rooms wherein the work was performed. He was a 
great lover of truth, and investigated most of the systems 
of philosophy then in use, but was himself rather inclining 
to that of Plato, when about thirty years of age he became 
a convert to Christianity. Soon after this, he wrote an 
elegant epistle to the Gentiles, for the purpose of opening 
their eyes to the true faith, and so faithfully did he adhere 
to every virtue, that he was with great propriety termed 
the Christian Philosopher. He also employed his talents 
in converting the Jews to Christianity, and travelled for 
several years, when he finally located himself in the vi- 
cinity of Rome, where he taught a very popular school. 

As the Christians began to be treated with severity, he 
wrote his apology in their behalf, addressed to the Empe- 
ror Antoninus, two princes whom he had adopted as sons, 
and to the senate and people of Rome in general. This 
production displayed great skill and learning, and caused 
the Emperor to pass an edict in favour of the Christians. 

A short time after he entered into frequent contests with 
Creseus, a person of vicious life, but a celebrated Cynic 
philosopher, and his arguments appearing so powerful, and 

3 



26 

still so disgusting to him that he immediately determined 
on his ruin, which he managed to effect. The second 
ep'stle of Justin, was occasioned by the following cir- 
cumstances. A certain man and his wife living at 
Rome, the latter became a convert to Christianity, and 
attempted to bring her husband over to the faith 
Not succeeding, she then sued for a divorce, which so ex- 
asperated him, that he immediately accused her of being a 
Christian. On her petitioning him, he discontinued his 
suit against her, and levelled his enmity at Ptolemias, who 
was the means of converting her. He was consequently 
condemned to death, and met his fate with fortitude. 
Justin's remarks on these severities, gave Creseus the 
advantage he had so ardently desired, and complaining 
to the Emperor lie was immediately apprehended with 
six of his companions. They were all first severely scour- 
ged, and then put to death by beheading. 

Among the numerous and valuable productions of this 
eminent saint and martyr, only seven are now extant. 

About this time many others were put to death for refu- 
sing to sacrifice to Jupiter, among whom was Concordus, 
a deacon of the city, who being carried before the image, 
he not only refused to sacrifice, but spit in its face, upon 
whirh he was immediately put to death. 

Miraculous interference of the Divine Being. 

About this time several of the northern nations ha- 
ving conspired against Rome, theJEmperor marched against 
them with 975,000 men. Having arrived within the 
country of Germany, they fell unconsciously into an ambus- 
cade of the enemy, where they were in imminent danger 
of being defeated, and to add still more to their difficulty, 
they were almost entirely cut off from water. The Em- 
peror in this emergency, commanded his soldiers to call 
upon their gods for aid, which was accordingly done, but 
to no purpose. He next called upon that division of his 
army which was composed of Christians, and commanded 
them to pray to their God, which was immediately com- 
plied with. They prostrated themselves before Heavetf 
and implored relief, when suddenly a heavy shower de- 
scended, and the whole army was thus saved, and while it 



27 

rained upon the Roman army, the hail descended in tor- 
rents upon their enemies, which induced a great portion ol 
them to disperse, while many others came over to the Ro- 
mans. Thus was a great victory gained, and the empire 
prohahly saved through the interposition of Heaven. 

The Emperor wrote immediately to the Senate on the 
sub;°ct, in which he fully acknowledges the service's of the 
Christians, and gave immediate orders for stopping the 
persecution against them. 

Persecutions in France. 

Notwithstanding the above edict of the Emperor tended 
to stop the persecutions for a time in the immediate vi- 
cinity of Rome, in other parts of the empire, particularly 
in France, it was carried on to an extent which exceeded 
in cruelty all former examples. In the city of Lyons, all 
manner of torments were invented, such as banishment, 
hanging, burning, &c. and many of the servants of opu- 
lent Christians, were put upon the rack, to compel them to 
accuse their masters. The following were t:ie principal of 
these martyrs, A^etius Agathus, a young man who having 
professed Christianity being accused before a magistrate, 
boldly acknowledged himself to be such, and was immedi- 
ately condemned to death. 

Blandinia, a Christian lady of a weak constitution, when 
put to the torture, received such aid from Heaven, that her 
tormentors several times became weary in their work of 
cruelty, and declared that she must have been supported 
by some invisible power. Sanctus also, a deacon in the 
city of Vienne, bore his sufferings with equal fortitude, 
and only exclaimed " I am a Christian." Red hot plates 
of brass were repeatedly placed upon the most sensitive 
parts of the body, till the sinews were contracted, still re- 
maining inflexible, he was again consigned to prison. He 
was brought out again a few days afterward, when his per- 
secutors were greatly astonished to find his wounds healed, 
and his body perfect. Again they put him to the torture, 
6ut being unable to take his life, he was remanded to 
prison, where he was soon after beheaded. 

Attalus a distinguished citizen of Pergamus, suffered 
about this time, and Pothinus, the venerable bishop of 



28 fox's boor of martyrs. 

Lyons, now ninety years of age, being assaulted in the 
street by an infuriated mob, received such injury that he 
expired a few days after. 

At Lyons, exclusive of those already mentioned, the 
martyrs were compelled to set upon red hot chains of iron, 
till their flesh was broiled. This was inflicted with pe- 
culiar severity upon Sanctus, already mentioned, and se- 
veral others. Indeed, so far did t ic n.alice of the Pagans 
proceed that they sat guards over the bodies, while the dogs 
were devouring them, lest their friends should take them 
away and bury them. 

The whole number of martyrs, at Lyons, was 48, who 
suffered in the year of Christ 177, and all of them behaved 
with the greatest fortitude. Besides these, many others 
suffered soon after, not only in that city, but in various 
other parts of the Roman empire. 

Of these the most celebrated, were Epipodius, and 
Alexander, the latter a Greek, and the former a citizen of 
Lyons, distinguished for their friendship and love for each 
other. Being concealed by a Christian lady, they re- 
mained undiscovered for several days. Their hiding 
place, however, being at length found out, they were ap- 
prehended and thrown into prison. When brought ouf 
for trial, they avowed themselves Christians, at which the 
governor was so much enraged, that he exclaimed, " what 
signify all the former executions, if some yet remain who 
dare avow themselves Christians." 

Through pretended compassion however, the governor 
attempted to dissuade Epipodius from his belief, by con- 
trasting the sensual enjoyments tolerated by the Pagan re- 
ligion, with what he was pleased to term, a gloomy life of 
Christianity. " Do not, said he, ruin yourself, with your 
obstinacy, our Deities are worshipped by the greater 
part of the people in the Universe, we adore them with 
feasting and mirth, while you adore a crucified man. We 
to honour our Gods, launch into pleasures, you, by your faith 
are debarred from all enjoyments of a sensual nature. 
Ours are the joys of licentious blandishments, yours the 
barren virtue of chastity ; can you expect protection from 
one who could not secure himself from the persecution oi 
a contemptible people. Then quit a profession of such aus- 
terity, and enjoy the gratifications which ihf world affords. 



fox's book op martyrs. 29 

and which youi youth demands. Epipodius in his re 
ply, contemned is pretended compassion. " Your kind- 
ness said lie, is actual cruelty, and the happy life you de- 
scribe, is replete with everlasting death. Christ suffered for 
us, that our joys should be immortal, and hath prepared for 
his followers an eternity of bliss. The frame of man being 
composed of two parts, a body and soul, the first being 
mean and perishable, should be brought into subjection to 
the latter. Your idolatrous feasts may gratify the mortal, 
but they injure the immortal part. That cannot therefore 
be called pleasure, which wroks the destruction of the 
nobler part. Your pleasures lead to eternal death, our pains 
to eternal pleasure. For this speech, he was first severely 
beaten, then put upon the rack, and his flesh torn with 
iron hooks, after which, he was beheaded. Alexander, 
his companion, was brought before the same judge two 
days after, and on refusing to abjure Christianity, was first 
severely scourged, and then beheaded. This was in a. d. 
179. 

About this time, the following persons also suffered mar- 
tyrdom, viz. : Valerian, and Marcellus, of Lyons ; Benig- 
nus, of Dijon ; Speusippus, and others, at Laugres ; Thvr 
seus, and Felix, at Salieu ; Sympoviam and Florella, at 
Autun ; Severinus, Felician, and Exuperus, at Vienne ; 
Cecilia, a virgin, of Sicily; and Thraseus, bishop of Smyrna. 

In the year of Christ 160, the Emperor Antoninus died, 
and was succeeded by his son Commodus, who did not imi- 
tate his father in any respect. He had neither his vir- 
tues nor his vices, he was without learning or morality ; 
neither did he possess his prejudice against the Christians. 
His greatest weakness was a vain and foolish pride, whic'i 
led him to consider himself as Hercules, and as such be 
commanded his subjects to worship him. Several of the 
Christians on refusing to comply with so extravagant a re- 
quest, were put to death, among whom w r as Apollonius, a 
Roman Senator. This eminent man was skilled in all the 
branches of polite literature, as well as in the sublime 
truths of the Gospel. He was accused by his slave Se- 
verus, and refusing to recant was put to death, by being be- 
headed on the 18th of April, 186. 

About this time also was put to death for the same cause 
Anicetus, Soter, and Eleuthcrius, the latter ot whom was 

3# 



30 FOX'S UOOfc 0$ MAitTYftS. 

sent to B itain by the request of Lucius, the king, who was 
by him converted to Christianity, and on the following year 
Eusebius Vincentius, Potentius, Peregrinus, and the Sena 
tor Julius, also suffered martyrdom, for refusing to sacri 
fice to Commodus. 



CHAPTER II. 



The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth Persecutions, undet 
the Roman Emperor. 

The Emperor Commodus dying in the year of Christ, 
191, was succeeded by Pertinax, and he by Julianius, both 
of whom reigned but a short time. On the death of the 
last, Severus became Emperor in a. d. 172. Being cured 
of a dangerous disease by a Christian physician, he be- 
came so friendly toward them, that he even suffered his 
son to be nursed by a Christian female. The Christians 
therefore for several years of his reign, enjoyed a respite 
from persecutions. But increasing in numbers very rapid- 
ly, the fears of the heathens were excited, lest their re- 
ligion should become entirely supplanted, and imputing 
the various misfortunes which befel the empire to their im- 
piety, a furious persecution was suddenly raised against 
them. Fire, sword, wild beasts, and imprisonments, were 
resorted to, and even the dead bodies of Christians were 
torn from their graves and subjected to the vilest insults 
The Gospel, notwithstanding, withstood these attacks, and 
continued to spread to such a degree, that had its votaries 
withdrawn themselves to other countries, the Roman 
empire would have been greatly depopulated. Victor, 
bishop of Rome, suffered martyrdom a. d. 201 ; Leonidas, 
father of the celebrated Origen, was beheaded about the 
same time. Previous to his death, his son, in order to en- 
courage him, wrote to him in the following words : " Be- 
ware sir, that your care for us does not make you change 
vour resolution."- 

Several of Origen's hearers also suffered death, among 
whom were two brothers named Plutarchus and Serenus, 
another Serenus, Heron and Heraclides, who were be- 
headed ; Rhais a female, was scalded, by having boil ; ng 



Fox's DOOk UP foAfetVitto 31 

piich poured upon her, and then burned, with Marceha her 
mother. 

Potamiena, tlie sister of Rhais, was executed in the same 
manner a short time after, and Basilides the officer who 
attended her execution, was converted to Christianity by 
witnessing her fortitude. Being afterward required to take 
a certain oath, he refused, saying, t-hat he could not swear 
by the heathen idols, as he was a Christian. The people 
could not at first believe him serious, but on repeating the 
assertion, he was dragged before the judge, condemned 
to death, and suffered martyrdom soon after. Irene us, 
bishop of Lyons, was by birth a Greek, and received a 
Christian education. It is generally supposed that the 
account of the persecutions at Lyons was written by him- 
self. He succeeded the martyr Pothinus, and ruled his 
diocess with great propriety. He was a zealous oppo- 
ser of heresies in general, and wrote a celebrated tract on 
the subject, about a. d. 187. In consequence of a dis- 
pute with Victor, bishop of Rome, on the subject of a par- 
ticular mode of keeping Easter, he became conspicuous 
as a champion of Christianity, and was beheaded by order 
of the Emperor, a. d. 202. 

Persecution in Africa, 

This persecution extended into Africa, and many were 
martyred in consequence of their profession, among whom 
was a very amiable married lady by the name of Perpe- 
tua. She was about twenty-six years of age at the time 
she was apprehended, and had a young infant at her 
breast. Her father, who loved her tenderly, visited her in 
prison, and attempted to persuade her to save her life, by 
renouncing Christianity, and on her refusing, became so 
exasperated, that he beat her with severity. This how- 
ever she bore with patience, upon which he left her, and 
did riot visit her again for several days. When he did, how- 
ever, he was all tenderness, and attempted again to prevail 
on her to renounce her profession. The consul also be- 
fore whom she was brought united with the unhappy father, 
in representing to her the tears of her friends, the helpless 
condition of her infant, with such other arguments as were 
nv»5t likely to make her recant, but all was to no purpose, 



32 

as she firmly declared, that she was willing to forsake al. 
for Christ. Her father finding her immoveable, attempted 
to carry her off by force, in which attempt he received a 
severe blow from one of the soldiers. Irritated at this, 
Perpetua declared that she felt the blow more severely 
than if it had fallen on herself. When remanded to prison 
she awaited with patience the hour of her execution, when 
she was put to death with several others, among whom was 
Felicitas a married Christian lady, who was delivered of a 
child the day before her execution. 

Revocatus, a catechuman and slave of Carthage, with Sa- 
tur, Saturnius, and Secundulus, accused of being Christians 
and sentenced to suffer death at the same time. The first 
three having the courage to denounce the judgment of 
Heaven against their persecutors, were compelled to run 
the gauntlet between two files of soldiers, each of which 
gave them a severe blow with a lash. Felicitas and Per- 
petua were first stripped, and then thrown to a mad bull, 
when he had tossed them several times, the spectators de- 
sired, that for decency's sake, their clothes might be repla- 
ced, which was accordingly done. The bull then made an 
attack upon them but failing to despatch them, the exe- 
cutioner finished his work with hib sword. Revocatus and 
Satur were torn in pieces by wild beasts. Saturnius was 
beheaded, and Secundulus died in prison. Their execu- 
tions took place on the 8th day of March, a. d. 205. 

The accusations laid to the charge of the Christians, 
were sedition and rebellion against the Emperor, sacrilege, 
murdering of infants, incestuous pollution, eating raw flesh, 
libidinous commixture, for which many of those called gnos- 
tici were disgraced. It was also said of them that they 
woshipped the head of an ass ; which charge was laid 
against them by the Jews. 

They were also charged with worshipping the sun, be- 
cause they usually assembled early in the morning for the 
purpose of singing praises to their Redeemer. 

Speratus and twelve others were beheaded, as aiso 
•was Androchus, in France. Asclepiades bishop of An- 
tioch, suffered many torments about this time, but his iife 
was spared. 

Cecilia, a young lady of good family in Rome, was mar- 
ried to a young gentleman by the name of Valerian, and 



rox's book of martyrs. 33 

being a Christian herself, she soon persuaded her hus- 
band to embrace the same faith. His example was soon 
after followed by Tiburtius his brother. This drew upon 
them the vengeance of the laws, and they were imme- 
diately condemned to death, which was inflicted in the 
following manner. The lady was placed naked in a scald- 
ing bath, and having continued there a considerable time, 
her head was struck off with a sword. The others were 
beheaded, and the officer who led them to execution, be- 
coming a convert to Christianity, suffered with them ; this 
was, a. d. 2*22. 

Two years after, Calistus, bishop of Rome, was mar- 
tyred, but the particulars of his death are not recorded. 
Urban, who succeeded him, also suffered the same fate, 
a. d. 232. 

Agapetus, a boy of Prseneste, only fifteen years of age, 
refusing to sacrifice to idols, was severely scourged, then 
hung up by his feet and scalding water poured upon him. 
He was afterward worried to death by wild beasts. Du- 
ring the execution, Antiochus, who ordered it, fell suddenly 
down from his judicial seat, crying out, " that his bowels 
burned with the fire of hell," and soon expired. 

Persecution under the Emperor Maximus. 

This Emperor raised a violent persecution against the 
Christians in a. d. 235, which extended into Cappadocia, 
when Semiramus, the president, used great exertions to ex- 
terminate the Christians from his kingdom. 

A Roman soldier, who refused, on account of being]a 
Christian, to wear a laurel crown bestowed upon him by the 
Emperor, was scourged, imprisoned, and finally beheaded. 
Pontianus, bishop of Rome, for preaching against idolatry, 
was first banished to Sardinia, and afterward executed. 
Anteros, a Greek, who succeeded to the bishopric of 
Rome, gave so much offence by collecting an account of 
me martyrs, that he was deposed from his see forty days 
after assuming it, and was soon after martyred himself. 
Pammachius, a Roman senator, with his family, and other 
Christians, to the number of forty-two, were all beheaded 
m one day, and their heads placed upon the city gates. 
Siraplicius, another senator, soon after suffered martyrdom 



84 fox*s book op MAftTyiis. 

in trie same way. Caiepodius, a Christian minister, after 
being dragged about the streets in an inhuman manner, 
was thrown into the Tiber, with a millstone about his 
neck. Quiritus, a Roman nobleman, with his family and 
domestics, on account of being Christians, were first se- 
verely tortured, and then put to death. Martina, a noble 
and beautiful virgin, suffered martyrdom, being variously 
tortured, and then beheaded. Hippolitus, a Christian pre- 
late, was tied to a wild horse and dragged through the 
streets till he was dead. 

During this persecution numerous Christians were slain 
without a trial, and buried indiscriminately in heaps, some- 
times fifty or sixty in a pit together. 

But Maximus dying in a. d. 238, and being succeeded 
by Gordian, the persecution ceased, nor was it revived in 
the reign of Philip, his successor, which gave the Christian 
church a respite from suffering, for a term of ten years. 
But in a. d. 249, a violent persecution broke out in Alex- 
andria. It is, however, worthy of remark, that this was 
done at the instigation of a Pagan priest, without the 
knowledge of the Emperor. Such was the fury of the mob, 
that they broke open and plundered the houses of the 
Christians without distinction, and murdered those whom 
they found, without even the ceremony of a trial. Metrus, 
an aged and venerable Christian, on refusing to blaspheme, 
the name of his Saviour, was beaten with clubs, pricked 
with thorns, and afterward stoned to death. Quinta, a 
Christian woman, was carried to a heathen temple, but 
refusing to sacrifice to idols, was scourged with thongs, and 
then stoned. Apollonia, an ancient maiden lady, on con- 
fessing herself a Christian, had her teeth first beaten out, 
and was then bound to a stake for the purpose of burning 
her. She, however, requested to be unbound, which was 
readily complied with, supposing that it was her intention 
to recant, but, to their astonishment, she was no sooner at 
liberty, than she rushed voluntarily into the flames, where 
she was soon consumed. 

Persecution under the Emperor Decius. 

Immediately after the succession of Decius to the throne 
a violent persecution was raised against the Christians, 



35 

partly through the hatred that he bore to his predecessor, 
who was supposed to be a Christian in heart, and partly 
through a jealousy of the rapid progress of the Christian 
religion. Christian churches had now became numerous 
and well filled, while the heathen temples were almost de- 
serted. Decius provoked at this, determined if possible 
to exterminate the very name of Christian from the earth ; 
and, unfortunately for the church, many errors had crept 
into it, and many of its members were at variance with 
each other. In this unhappy state of things, the heathens 
became ambitious to execute the imperial decree, looking 
upon the murder of Christians, as the most acceptable ser- 
vice they could render to their deities. 

Martyrdom of Fabian and others. 

Fabian, of Rome, was the first person of eminence who 
was brought to feel the severity of this persecution. Phi- 
lip, the former Emperor, had committed his treasures to the 
care of this good and holy man, but Decius, finding them 
not as he expected, made it a pretence for wreaking his 
vengeance upon him. He was accordingly put to death by 
decapitation. Abdon and Semen, two Persians, were 
seized on as strangers and Christians, and put to death in 
the same manner. Moyses, a priest, was beheaded for the 
same reason. Julian, a native of Cicilia, was seized on 
for being a Christian, and was several times tortured but 
still remained inflexible. He was then made to travel for 
twelve months, together from city to city, for the purpose of 
exposing himself to the insults of the public. Still refu- 
sing to relinquish his faith, he was severely scourged and 
then sewed up in a leather bag with serpents and scorpions, 
and in this manner was cast into the sea. Peter, an amia- 
ble young man, of Lampsacus, was accused of Christian- 
ity before Optimus, the proconsul of Asia, who com- 
manded him to sacrifice to Venus, to which he replied : 
14 1 am astonished that you should command me to wor- 
ship a woman, who, according to your own history was a 
vile and licentious character, and guilty of such crimes as 
your own laws now punish with death. No, I shall offer 
to the one only living and true God, the sacrifice of prayer 



ffi 



pox's book op martyrs. 



md praise." Optimus ordered him to be put upon the 
rack, which was accordingly done, and most of his bones 
vere broken. He however smiled on his tormentors as 
if he would have invited them to a still greater trial of 
skill. His head was then struck off, and his body given 
to the dogs. 

Nichomachus, another Christian, being commanded by 
Optimus to sacrifice to idols, replied, " I cannot render 
that worship to idols that is due only to God." Upon this, 
he was immediately placed upon the rack, and suffered 
tlTe torments for awhile with great fortitude, but when 
ready to die with pain, he was weak enough to abjure his 
faith. He was thereupon released, when he fell into the 
most awful horror and distress, and immediately fell down 
and expired. 




Martyrdom of Denisa. 

Denisa an amiable young lady of sixteen years of age, 
when she beheld the signal judgment of heaven upon this 
apostate young man, exclaimed,'* O ! miserable wretch, why 
would you by a moment's ease purchase a miserable eter- 
nity V* upon which she was asked by Optimus whether she 
were a Christian, to which she replied in the affirmative, 
when he delivered her over to two libertines, who made 
several attempts upon her chastity, but without success. 
Thev were however alarmed at midnight by a vision from 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 37 

Heaven, upon which they fell upon their keees before 
Denisa and implored her forgiveness. This however did 
not secure her against the rage of Optimus, who caused 
her to be destroyed by a mad bull. 

Andrew and Paul two companions of Nichomachus, 
confessing themselves Christians, were condemned to die, 
and delivered to the multitude who stoned them to death. 
They died like the first Christian martyr, Stephen, calling 
upon the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Alexander and Epimacus of Alexandria, were appre- 
hended for being Christians, and on confessing the accu- 
sation, were beat with staves, torn with hooks, and finally 
burnt ; and we are informed by Eusebius, that four remale 
martyrs suffered on the same day by being beheaded. 

Lucian and Marcian two Pagan magicians, became con- 
verts to Christianity, and to atone for their former lives, 
became hermits, subsisting only on bread and water. 
After spending some time in this manner, they reflected 
that their lives were inefficient, and accordingly left their 
solitude for the purpose of making converts to Christianity. 
Becoming zealous preachers, they were seized and carried 
before the governor of Bithynia, who asked them by what 
authority they presumed to preach the Christian faith. 
Lucian answered, " The laws of Christian charity and 
humanity obliged them to comfort their neighbours." 
Marcian also said, " That their conversion was by the same 
grace that was given to St. Paul, who from a zealous per- 
secutor of the church, became a preacher of the gospel." 
When the proconsul found that he could not prevail on 
them to renounce their faith, he ordered them to be 
burnt alive, which was executed accordingly. 

Trypho and Respicius, two eminent men, were seized as 
Christians and imprisoned at Nice. They were soon after 
put to the rack, which they bore with admirable patience 
for three hours, uttering the praises of God at the same 
time. They were then exposed naked in the open air till 
all their limbs were benumbed, when they were remanded 
to prison, from which they were afterward taken out, 
scourged and dragged through the streets, their flesh torn 
with hooks, and various other torments, which were consu- 
ijuu^d by beheading them in a. d. 251. 

4 



88 pox's book op martyrs. 

Agtha, a Sicilian lady, was remarkable for herbeautv, 
which so enamoured Quintain, the governor, that he 
made several attempts upon her chastity, which proved un- 
successful. Agtha being a Christian, and knowing him 
to be both a zealous Pagan and a libertine, removed from 
the city for the purpose of escaping his power. Her re- 
treat was, however, discovered, and she was brought back 
to Catana, and delivered to the care of a female of infa- 
mous character, who used every means in her power to 
win her over to prostitution, but without effect. Quin- 
tain on being informed of this, determined to wreak his 
vengeance upon her. She was therefore condemned as a 
Christian, and, after being severely scourged, was tortured 
with red hot plates of iron, her flesh torn with hooks, and 
finally she was laid naked upon hot coals. All these 
tortures she bore with admirable fortitude, and died on the 
1st of February, a. d. 251. 

Martyrdom of Cyril. 

Cyril, bishop of Gortyna, was seized by order of Lucius, 
the governor of that place, who first exhorted him to save 
nis valuable life by a recantation, but the venerable pre- 
late, who was eighty-four years old, replied, " I have spent 
many years in teaching others how to save their souls ; I 
must not now lose my own for renouncing my only Sa- 
viour." He was then sentenced to be burned alive, which 
was accordingly executed. 

Persecution in Crete. 

In the island of Crete this persecution raged with great 
violence, as the governor of the place was very active in 
putting the decrees of the Emperor into execution. The 
principal martyrs, whose names have been transmitted to us 
(ire the following: Theodulus, Saturnius, and Europus, in- 
habitants of the city of Gortyna ; Zeticus, Eunicianus, Cleo- 
menes, Agathopas,Bastidesand Euaristus,who were brought 
from different parts of the island on the charge of Chris- 
tianity. They were all tried at the same time, and were 
commanded to sacrifice to the eods of the Romans, but to 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 6V 

tnis they replied, " That they sought no greater enjoy- 
ment in the world, than that of suffering for the cause of 
their Redeemer." Enraged at this, the governor first put 
them to the rack, and then beheaded them. 

Martyrdom of Babylas, bishop of Antioch, and others. 

Babylas was a native of the city of Antioch, and a man 
of superior firmness, and endowed with a liberal education. 
He succeeded to that see at the death of Zebinus, in a.d. 237. 
He governed the church during those troublesome times 
with great prudence. On Gordian's death, in the reign of 
Decius, that Emperor came to Antioch, and on expressing 
a desire to visit the congregation of Christians in that city, 
was opposed by Babylas. He dissembled his anger for 
the present, but soon after sending for the bishop reproved 
him with severity, and commanded him to worship the 
heathen deities. To do this he refused, upon which he was 
sent to 'prison and loaded with chains. In a short time 
after he was brought out to be beheaded with three young 
men who had been his pupils. On going to the place of 
execution, the bishop exclaimed, " Behold me and the 
children that the Lord hath given me." They were mar- 
tyred in a. d. 251, and the chains worn by the bishop were 
buried with him. Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, was cast 
into prison about this time, on account of his religion, where 
he died soon after, in consequence of the severity of his 
treatment. 

Serapion, of Alexandria, suffered martyrdom about this 
time, by having his bones broken, and being thrown from a 
loft. Julianus and Cronion two aged Christians of the 
same place, were bound upon the backs of camels, severely 
scourged, and then consumed with fire. A spectator who 
seemed to commiserate them was ordered to be beheaded 
as a reward for his sentiments of tenderness. Ma car, a 
Lybian Christian, was burnt. Horon-Ater, Isodorus, and 
Dioschorus, a boy of fifteen, were burnt in Egypt, and 
forty virgins suffered martyrdom at Antioch. 

Theodora, a young lady of Antioch, who is represented 
as exceedingly beautiful, refusing to sacrifice to idols, was 
condemned to a brothel, that her virtue might be sacrificed. 



40 



FOX\S BOOK OF MAItTYRS. 



Didymus, a Christian, being informed of her situation, dis- 
guised himself as a Roman, went to the house, and informed 
Theodora who he was. He prevailed on her to escape 
in his dress, which she accordingly did, while he cop 
tinued in her stead. Her escape becoming known, Didy- 
mus was immediately condemned to death. In the mean 
time Theodora, hearing that her deliverer was likely to suf- 
fer, came to the judge, threw herself at his feet, and beg- 
ged to die in his stead. But the ruthless monster ordered 
them both to be beheaded. 

Account ofOrigen, 

Origen, the celebrated presbyter and catechist of Alexan- 
dria, at the age of sixty-four years, was seized and thrown 
mto a loathsome prison, his feet placed in the stocks, and 
nis legs extended to the utmost for several days. He was 
threatened with fire, and every other torment that fche ma- 
lignity of his persecutors could invens, but his Christian 
fortitude bore him through all. Notwithstanding, the ex- 
ecutioners were commanded to extend his sufferings as 
long as possible, that death might not too soon release 
him, he bore all without a murmur, and his faith seem- 
ed rather to increase with his pains. During his pro- 
tracted scenes of suffering, the Emperor Decius died, and 
was succeeded by Gallus, who being engaged in a war 
with the Goths, the Christian church enjoyed a respite 
from persecution for a season. During the interval, 
Origen obtained his liberty and removed to Tyre, where 
he remained till his death, which occurred in the sixty-ninth 
year of his age. Among those who are distinguished by 
the title of fathers of the church, few deserved it more 
than Origen, for faithfulness, zeal, and piety. Besides per- 
forming his other duties, it is said that he wrote the incredi- 
ble number of seven thousand volumes on difTeient sub- 
jects. 

Numerous Martyrs in the riegn of Decius, 

Besides those martyrs already mentioned, great numbers 
suffered in Phrygia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and other parts 



41 

o( the Roman empire, the particulars of whose martyr- 
dom are not handed down to us. 

The Emperor Gallus, having finished his warfare with 
the Goths, a pestilence broke out in the empire, when the 
Christians, refusing to supplicate the gods of the heathens 
to stay the plague, were charged with being the cause of 
it, and a general persecution was again revived against 
them. Cornelius, the bishop of Rome, was among the 
most distinguished persons who were martyred during this 
persecution. He was first banished to Centum-CelLne, and, 
after being cruelly scourged, was beheaded the 14th day of 
September, a. d. 252, having officiated as bishop only 
fifteen months. He was succeeded by Lucius, who 
soon after shared the same fate. The successor of Lucius 
was Stephanus,who continued in that office for several years, 
during which time the church enjoyed a respite from 
persecution. 

Persecution under Valerian. 

After the death of Gallus, Valerian was elected Em- 
peror ; for four years he governed with moderation, and 
showed much favour to the Christians ; but a certain Egyp- 
tian, gaining great ascendency over him, persuaded him to 
raise a persecution against them. Edicts were according- 
ly published, and the persecution, which commenced in the 
month of April, continued three years and six months. 
The martyrs who fell in this persecution were numerous, 
and their sufferings as various as the malignity of the hu- 
man heart could devise. The most distinguished person- 
ages were the following : 

Rufina and Secunda were the daughters of a dis- 
tinguished Roman, and were both engaged in marriage to 
gentlemen of high distinction, who like their intended 
brides were professed Christians before the persecution 
commenced, but fearing for their persons and fortunes, 
they relinquished their faith when danger assailed them, 
and strove to persuade the young ladies to do the same. 
But remaining steadfast, they finally concluded to leave the 
province, which they accordingly did. Armentarius and Ve- 
rin-=s, the young men before mentioned, through a revenge- 
ful motive, informed against them as Christians, in conse- 
4* 



42 

quence of which, they were brought back to Rome, and 
after suffering a variety of tortures, were finally put to 
death by beheading. 

In the same year Stephanus, bishop of Rome, was be- 
headed, and Saturnius, bishop of Thoulouse, was tied to 
the tail of a bull, which was driven down the steps of a 
heathen temple, by which means his brains were dashed 
out. Sextus succeeded Stephanus as bishop of Rome, and 
is represented as a man of extraordinary prudence, learn- 
ing, and piety. When an edict was signed by Valerian, 
for putting to death all the Christian clergy at Rome, Sex- 
tus is said to have been one of the first who felt its se- 
verity. He was beheaded, according to Cyprian, Augus: 
6th, a. d. 258. 

Martyrdom of St. Laurence. 

Laurentius, generally called St. Laurence, was a dea- 
con under Sextus, and followed him to the place of execu- 
tion. Just before he suffered, Sextus predicted that Lau- 
rentius would meet him in heaven within three days. Con- 
sidering this as a certain indication of his fate, Laurentius 
went home, called the poor people of the church to- 
gether, and distributed among them all the moneys com- 
mitted to his care, thinking, in the present crisis, that it could 
not be better disposed of. His conduct alarming the per- 
secutors, they immediately seized him, and commanded 
him in the name of the Emperor to give an account of the 
church treasures entrusted to his charge. This he promised 
to do if they would give him time to put things in their 
proper order. Three days were allowed him, during 
which time he collected a great number of aged, infirm, 
and impotent poor, and taking them before the magistrate 
said : " These are the true treasures of the church." 

Provoked and disappointed, the governor in a great rage 
ordered him to be severely scourged, then binding him 
upon a wooden horse, and tying weights to his hands and 
feet, they dragged him about the streets till several of his 
joints were dislocated. He was then placed upon a large 
gridiron over a slow fire for a long time, and notwithstanding 
that he was actually roasted alive, he remained calm 



fox's book of martyrs. 43 

and collected, even to the last moment, exhorting the spec 
tators to embrace the religion of Jesus Christ. It is alsc 
said of him, that after having been awhile on the gridiron, 
he called out jocosely to the Emperor, who was present, in 
a Latin distich, which may be translated thus : 

This side enough is toasted, 
Then turn me tyrant, and eat; 
And see whether raw or roasted, 
I am the better meat 

On this the executioner turned him over, and having 
laid awhile longer on the other side, he again called out 
to the Emperor, saying that he was now sufficiently roasted 
and was ready to be served up. He then cheerfully lifted 
up his eyes to heaven and with calmness yielded up his 
breath. This occurred on the 10th day of August, a. d. 258. 

Romanus, a soldier who attended the execution of 
Laurentius, was so struck with his firmness, that he be- 
came a convert and was immediately beheaded 

Persecution in Africa. 

About this time the persecution raged in Africa with 
peculiar violence, and many thousands received the crown 
of martyrdom, among whom the following were the most 
distinguished. 

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was an eminent prelate, 
and a pious ornament to the church. His doctrines were or- 
thodox and pure, his language easy and elegant, and his 
manners graceful. He was said to have been so perfect in 
the practice of elocution and the principles of philosophy, 
that he was made a professor of these branches in his native 
city of Carthage. He was bred up in the religion of the Gen- 
files, and possessing a large fortune, lived in great pomji 
and splendour. In this manner he spent the former part of 
his life, indulging in every sensual gratification, till about 
a. d. 246, when becoming acquainted with the principles 
of the Christian religion through the preaching of Coeci- 
lius, he immediately became a convert of Christianity, 
and disposed of the greater portion of his estate, distri- 
buted the whole of it among the poor, dressed himself 
in plain attire, and commenced a life of austerity and 
solitude. Soon after this he was made a presbyter, bju} 



44 fox's book of martyrs. 

being greatly admired for his virtues, was elected bishop 
of Carthage in a. d. 248. In the year 250 he was pub- 
licly proscribed by the emperor Decius, and was in great 
danger of suffering martyrdom from the rage and fury of 
the pagans. He however withdrew from the rage of the 
populace, upon which his effects were immediately con- 
fiscated. During his retirement he wrote often to his 
flock for the purpose of warning them against many evila 
that were now beginning to creep into the church, and 
which gave him great uneasiness. But all his efforts 
were ineffectual : and when the rigour of the persecution 
was a little abated, he returned again to Carthage for the 
purpose of expunging these errors from the church. But 
a terrible plague soon breaking out in the city, as usual it 
was imputed to the impiety of the Christians, and the per- 
secution was again revived against them with greater 
vigour than before. 

Cyprian was brought before the proconsul, and com- 
manded to conform to the religion of the empire, but he 
boldly refused, and made an open avowal of his faith. 
This, however, did not occasion his death, but he was ba- 
nished to a small city on the Libyan sea. After the death 
of the proconsul, he returned again to Carthage, where he 
was seized by the governor, who ordered him to be be- 
headed ; which was accordingly done on the 14th day of 
September, a. d. 258. Several of his disciples were 
also martyred at the same time. 

Martyrdom of three hundred Christians. 

Perhaps there is not a more striking instance recorded 
in church history of Christian fortitude on the one hand, 
and . cruelty on the other, than that which transpired in 
the city of Utica, during the persecution before men- 
tioned. Three hundred Christians, of both sexes, were 
placed around the orifice of a burning limekiln, and a pan 
of coals and incense being prepared, they were command- 
ed either to sacrifice to Jupiter, or be thrown into the 
flame. They all with one accord refused to sacrifice, and 
jumped into the pit themselves, where they were suffocated 
immediately. 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 45 

Singular Account of a Christian Lady. 

Philippus, governor of Alexandria, had a beautify 
daughter, who had received a liberal education and every 
other accomplishment that the age admitted. Having 
been much in the company of Christians, she at length be- 
came a convert, and to escape the persecution that was 
then raging, she escaped from her father's house, clothed 
herself in male attire, and calling her name Eugenius, was 
admitted into a convent of Christians, of which, at length, 
by reason of her virtue and learning, she was made the 
head. Here, it is said, she performed many miracles, and 
among others who were cured by her, was a matron of 
Alexandria, by the name of Melancia, who, supposing her 
to be a man, conceived a criminal passion for her, and 
besought her to gratify her desires. Eugenius exhorted 
her to continue in the path of virtue, but Melancia, en- 
raged at the refusal, and fearful of an exposure, determined 
to anticipate the accusation. She accordingly accused 
Eugenius and her companions of an attempt to debauch 
her, upon which they were immediately apprehended and 
brought before Philippus, the governor. Eugenius, thinking 
it now no time for dissimulation, disclosed herself to Phi- 
lippus as his daughter, and her two companions, Protheus 
and Hiacinthus, as two pious eunuchs, and revealed to 
him the cause of her departure. By this the judges were 
fully satisfied as to her innocence, and her accuser was 
utterly confounded. Philippus was soon after converted 
to Christianity and suffered martyrdom, but Eugenius, go- 
ing to Rome, was apprehended as a Christian, and assailed 
with various kinds of torment, from all of which she was 
miraculously delivered. She was first cast into the Tiber 
with a stone about her neck, but was nevertheless saved 
from drowning. She was next put into a scalding bath 
but escaped uninjured ; and lastly, being cast into priso 
to die of hunger, was fed in a supernatural manner. 

Fate of the Emperor Valerian, 

This tyrant, who so long and so cruelly persecuted the 
Christian church, was finally taken prisoner by Saphores, 
king of Persia, who treated him with the most unexampled 



46 fox's book of MARTVUS, 

indignity, making him to kneel down, and placing nis foot 
upon his neck when he mounted his horse. Having kept 
him in this manner for seven years, he first caused his eyes 
to be put out, and then ordered him to be flayed alive, and 
to have his body rubbed with salt. Under this operation 
he died. 

Valerian was succeeded by Gallienus, his son, in a. d 
260, during whose reign the church was mostly free from 
persecution. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The ninth and tenth persecutions under the Roman 

Emperors. 

Gallienus was succeeded by Aurelian, who, in a. d. 
274, commenced a persecution against the Christians and 
caused many to be put to death, among whom was Felix, 
bishop of Rome, who was beheaded the 22d day of De- 
cember, 274. But the emperor being murdered soon af- 
ter, by his own domestics, he was succeeded by Tacitus. 
He being soon after slain, was succeeded by Probus, and 
lie again by Carus. This Emperor, being killed by 
lightning, was succeeded by his sons, Carinus and Nume- 
rian, during the reign of all which the church enjoyed a 
state of rest. 

Diocletian next succeeded to the throne, in a. d. 284, 
and at first showed great favour to the Christians, but in 
the year 286, he associated with him in the empire Maxi- 
mian, and the following Christians were put to death be- 
fore any general persecution commenced. Felician and 
Primus, two brothers, were seized by an order from the 
emperor, and confessing themselves Christians, were first 
tortured and then beheaded. 

Marcus and Marcelianus were two twin brothers of no- 
ble descent. Their parents were heathen, but they, 
having been brought up under the care of Christian tutors, 
bad embraced the Christian faith. They wore sentenced 
to death on account of their faith, but a respite of a 



*Wfe BOOK OP MARTYRS. 47 

month was allowed them, during which time their parents 
and friends used every means in their power to win them 
over to paganism, but all to no purpose. Their constancy 
finally won over their persuaders to Christianity, and the 
whole family oecame converts just before the sentence 
was executed on tne two young men. 

Tranquillinus, tne father of the two young men, being 
sent for by the prefect, to give an account of the success 
of his endeavours, he replied, that instead of prevailing 
on his sons to renounce their religion, he had himself be- 
come a convert to Christianity. He ^nen stopped till the 
magistrate had recovered iiom b's> surprise, and resuming 
his discourse, used such arguments as pievailed upon the 
magistrate himself to become h convert, who immediately 
thereupon resigrfed his office, arid spent the remainder of 
his days in pious retirement. Mis successor in office was 
a man of a very morose and cruel temper, whose first offi- 
cial act was to compel this newly converted family to suf- 
fer a variety of torture, after which they were all beheaded. 
These, with several other persons of distinction, suffered 
martyrdom before a general persecution was commenced. 

Massacre of a whole Legion of Christian Soldiers. 

A very remarkable event occurred in a. d. 286. A 
iegion of soldiers, consisting of 6666 men, contained none 
but Christians. This was called the Theban Legion, be- 
cause the men had been raised in Thebes. They had 
been quartered in the east, till the emperor Maxim ian 
commanded them to march to Gaul, to assisf in quelling a 
rebellion in Burgundy. Having passed the Alps, the em- 
peror ordered a general sacrifice, at which the whole army 
were to assist ; after which they were to take the oath of 
allegiance, and swear at the same time, to assist him in 
the extirpation of Christianity from Gaul. 

To this measure the whole legion absolutely refused 
obedience, professing to the emperor, that they were 
ready to serve him when his laws did not interfere with 
the commands of their Divine Master, but when the oppo- 
site was the case, they should on all occasions hazard the 
consequences of obeying God rather than man. Maxi- 
mian, instead of being softened at this reply, ordered the 



48 

whole legion to be put to the sword, which was accord- 
ingly done, on the 26th day of September, a. d. 286. 

Alb an , the First British Martyr. 

Alban, from whom St. Albans in Hertfordshire received 
its name, was the first British martyr. He was originally 
a pagan, and being naturally of a humane disposition, he 
sheltered a Christian missionary named Amphibalus, who 
was pursued on account of his religion. The pious ex- 
ample and edifying conversation of the fugitive, led Alban 
to inquire into the principles of a religion that produced 
such fruits, and the consequence was, he soon became a 
convert to Christianity. The enemies of Amphibalus, 
learning at length where he had taken shelter, came in 
pursuit of him, upon which Alban prevailed on him to 
exchange dresses with him, and make his escape in dis- 
guise. When the pursuers came to the house of Alban, he 
offered himself to them, who took him immediately before 
a magistrate, when the deception was discovered. The 
magistrate, enraged at the escape of Amphibalus, deter- 
mined to wreak his revenge on Alban. He accordingly 
commanded him to sacrifice to the pagan deities, which 
Alban refusing to do, and confessing himself a christian, 
was first cruelly scourged, and then beheaded. This hap- 
pened on the 22d day of June, a. d. 287, at Verulam, now 
St. Albans, in Hertfordshire. A magnificent church was 
erected on the spot about the time of Constantine, which 
was destroyed during the Saxon wars. Another church 
and monastery was afterward erected on the same spot, 
some remains of which are still visible. 

Second Persecution, under Diocletian. 

Notwithstanding the repeated efforts of the heathen to 
exterminate the Christians, they increased so fast that they 
had now become formidable by their numbers. Forget- 
ting, however, the precepts of their religion, which taught 
them humility and meekness, they became gaudy in their 
apparel, and extravagant in their manner of living, inso- 
much that they excited the envy of the heathen, who were 
preparing to commence against them another persecution. 






FOX'S HOOK OF MARTYR8. 49 

Galerius, an adopted son of Diocletian, was an inveterate 
enemy of the Christians, and used every means in his 
power to persuade him to raise a persecution against them. 
It accordingly began on the 23d day of February, a. d. 
303, that being the day on which the Terminalia were 
celebrated, and on which, as the pagans boasted, they 
hoped to put an end to Christianity. The persecution was 
begun in Nicomedia ; the prefect of that city repaired, 
with a great number of officers and soldiers, to the 
churches of the Christians, which were first robbed of their 
treasures, and then razed to the ground. This was fol- 
lowed by an edict pronouncing Christians of every deno- 
mination outlaws, confiscating their property, and denying 
to them the protection of the laws of the realm. This was 
also followed by a general sacrifice, which occasioned a 
great number of martyrdoms, in which almost every means 
of cruelty was adopted that the malignity of the human 
heart could devise. Many houses were set on fire, and 
whole families perished in the flames. Others had stones 
fastened about their necks, and were cast into the sea. 
The persecution extended into all the Roman govern- 
ments, but more particularly in the eastern provinces, and 
as it lasted ten years, it is impossible to ascertain the 
number martyred, or to enumerate the various modes by 
which they were made to suffer. Many were beheaded in 
Arabia ; majiy devoured by wild beasts in Phenicia ; 
great numbers were broiled on gridirons in Syria ; others 
had their bones broken, and in that manner were left to 
expire ; in Cappadocia, and in Mesopotamia, several were 
hung with their heads downward over a slow fire. In 
Pontus a variety of tortures were used ; in particular, pins 
were thrust under the nails, melted lead was poured upon 
them, but all these torments were to no effect. In Egypt 
some Christians were drowned in the Nile, others were 
hung in the air till they perished, and great numbers were 
consumed with fire. Scourges, racks, swords, daggers, 
poison, crosses, and famine were used in various places to 
despatch the Christians. Phrygia, a town consisting wholly 
of Christians, was surrounded by soldiers, to prevent any 
from escaping, and then set on fire, and all the inhabitants 
perished in the flames. 

After this persecution had continued for several years, 
5 



50 fox's book op martyrs. 

many of the provincial governors, weary of the repeated 
scenes of suffering that they had been compelled to wit- 
ness, addressed the emperor, beseeching him to withdraw 
his edict, and stop the effusion of blood. With these re- 
quests he complied, and this long and cruel persecution 
was at length brought to a close. 

It would exceed the bounds of the present work to 
enumerate the many eminent persons, of both sexes, who 
perished during this long scene of affliction, nor have we 
room to detail the many instances of Christian fortitude 
that were exhibited by those who were martyred. A few 
examples shall suffice. 

Sebastian, a celebrated and holy man, who was an 
officer of the emperor's guard, continued steadfast in the 
faith during this bloody persecution, and was highly 
esteemed both by Christians and heathen. He was, how- 
ever, informed against by a pretended Christian, and 
brought before the emperor, who reproached him with in- 
gratitude, for daring to profess a religion that he himself 
discountenanced. To which Sebastian replied, that his 
religion was of good and not of evil tendency, and taught 
him to do nothing contrary to the interest of his master, 
and that the greatest proof he could give of his fidelity, 
was the praying to the only true God for his health and 
prosperity. Incensed at this reply, the emperor ordered 
him to be taken to a field near the city, calloil the Campus 
Martius, and there be shot with arrows. This was ac- 
cordingly done, but some Christians, on taking up his body 
for interment, discovered signs of life ; and by using pro- 
per means, he was soon restored again to health ; but this 
was only preparatory to a second martyrdom, for, placing 
himself near a heathen temple, he waited till the emperor 
approached, who was not a little astonished in finding him 
still alive. Nor was he less surprised when Sebastian, 
with great boldness, began to rebuke him for his many 
acts of cruelty. When the emperor's surprise was a little 
subsided, he ordered him to be beaten to death with clubs, 
which was accordingly done, and his body was thrown into 
a sewer, from which it was recovered by a female member 
of the church, and interred with the rights of Christian 
burial. 



pox's book of martyrs. 5"* 

Noble conduct of three Christian Friends. 

While Maximus, governor of Cilicia, was at Tarsus, 
three Christians were brought before him, by Demetrius, a 
military officer. Tarachus, the eldest of the three, was 
asked by Maximus, what he was ? The prisoner replied, 
a Christian. The governor, offended at this answer, com- 
manded him to sacrifice to the gods, adding, at the same 
time, that by so doing he would gain his favour. To this 
Tarachus replied, that to be a follower of Christ was the 
only honour that he desired in this world, and so far from 
coveting the condition of such as he, he considered him 
rather an object of pity, inasmuch as he was a worshipper 
of dumb idols, and deceived and led astray by the devil. 
For this boldness of speech his jaws were commanded 
to be broken, and he was thrown into prison to await the 
trial of the other prisoners. 

Probus was next brought before Maximus, who, as usual, 
asked his name. To this he replied, " The most noble 
name that I can boast of is that of Christian." " That 
name will be of little service to you," said Maximus ; " be 
therefore guided by me. Sacrifice to the gods ; engage 
my friendship, and the favour of the emperor." Probus 
nobly answered, " As he had already sacrificed much for 
the name of Christian, it might appear evident that he 
neither cared for his friendship, or the favour of the empe- 
ror." He was then severely scourged, and Demetrius 
observing how the blood flowed, exhorted him to relinquish 
his profession of Christ ; but Probus answered that nothing 
gave him greater pleasure than to be found worthy to 
suffer for Christ's sake. " What," said Maximus, " does 
the madman still persist in his resolution V 9 To this he 
answered, " The term madman is ill applied to a disciple 
of Jesus." He was then again scourged, loaded with 
chains, and consigned to prison. 

Andronicus was next brought forth, and being asked 
who he was, replied, " I am a Christian ; a native of Ephe- 
sus, and descended from one of the noblest families in that 
city." He was ordered to undergo a similar punishment tc 
that of Tarachus and Probus, and was then reminded to 
prison. 

Having been confined for some days, they were brought 



52 

again before Maximus, who at first began to reason with 
them, but finding them still steadfast, he caused them to be 
tortured in various ways, after which he again inquired of 
them whether they would not relinquish their faith and 
sacrifice to the gods. " I come better prepared," replied 
Probus, " than before ; for what I have suffered has only 
strengthened me in my resolution. Employ your whole 
power upon me ; and you shall find that neither you, nor 
your master the emperor, or the gods whom ye serve, nor 
even the Devil, who is your father, shall compel me to 
worship idols." The governor, however, attempted again 
to reason with him ; extolled, in the most extravagant 
manner, the gods whom they served ; to whom Probus 
replied " Shall I pay divine honours to Jupiter, to one 
who married His own sister ; to an infamous debauchee, as 
he is acknowledged to have been even»by your own poets." 
Provoked at this, the governor ordered him to be struck 
upon the mouth for uttering what he considered to be blas- 
phemy. He was then tortured in various ways and con- 
signed again to prison. 

Andronicus was next brought forward, whom Maximus 
attempted to deceive, by telling him that his companions 
had repented of their obstinacy, and owned the gods of the 
empire. " 1 will never believe it," said Andronicus, " I 
know them too well to believe they will ever, under airy 
circumstances, forsake the worship of the true God to pay 
their adoration to devils ; so seek not to deceive me, but do 
your worst: I am a Christian ; Christ is my help and sup- 
porter, and thus armed 1 will neither serve your gods, nor 
do I fear your authority, or that of your master, the empe- 
ror : commence your torments as soon as you please, and 
make use of every means that your malignity can invent, 
and you shall find in the end, that I am not to be shaken 
from my resolution." For this answer he was most cruelly 
scourged, and his wounds rubbed with salt, after which he 
was again consigned to prison. A few days after, they 
were brought out for a third examination, and finding that 
they still retained their constancy, they were first seveiely 
tortured, and then consigned to the amphitheatre, to be 
torn in pieces by wild animals. Several beasts were ac- 
cordingly let loose upon them, but neither of them, though 
hungry, would touch them. A large bear was next brough'. 



OF MARTYRS. 53 

out tnat bad torn three persons the same day. but this 
creature and a fierce lioness also refused to touch them. 
Finding this means of destroying them ineffectual, Maxi- 
nuis ordered them to be slain with a sword, which was ac- 
cordingly done on the 11th day of October, a. d. 303. 

Horrid Martyrdom of Romanus. 

Romanus was a native of Palestine, and a deacon in the 
church of Cesarea, at the time of Diocletian's persecution. 
He was at Antioch at the time the imperial edict came for 
sacrificing to idols, and was much grieved to see many 
Christians, through fear, submit to the idolatrous mandate, 
and deny their faith to preserve their lives While cen- 
suring some of them for their conduct, he was informed 
against, and soon after apprehended. Being brought be- 
fore the tribunal, he confessed himself a Christian, and 
declared that he was willing to suffer any thing they might 
see fit to inflict upon him, for the sake of Christ. When 
condemned, he was scourged, put to the rack, his body 
torn with hooks, his flesh cut with knives, his face scarified, 
his teeth knocked out, and his hair plucked out by the 
roots. Thus cruelly mangled, he turned to the governor, 
and very calmly thanked him for what he had done, and 
for having opened for him so many mouths with which 
to preach the gospel of Christ. He was then ordered to 
be strangled, which was accordingly done on the 17th day 
of November, a. d. 303. 

Conversion and, Death of Cyprian. 

Cyprian, known by the name of the magician, to dis- 
tinguish him from Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, before 
mentioned, was a native of Antioch, and after receiving a 
iiberal education, travelled in other countries, in search of 
knowledge, and finally settled near Babylon ; being skill- 
ed in the Chaldean mysteries, he employed his talents in 
attempting to seduce virtuous women from their chastity, 
and in persecuting the Christians. He became acquainted 
with Justina, a young lady of Antioch, of high birth, 
'ieauty, and accomplishments, who had been brought jp m 
5* 



54 fox's book of martyks. 

idolatry, but had now become a Christian, anc persuadeu 
both of her parents to embrace the same faith. 

A pagan gentleman, falling in love with her, and being 
anable to obtain a favourable return of his affection on 
account of his religion, he employed Cyprian to win her 
over to his wishes, who undertook to do so, but with the 
treacherous plan of possessing her himself. To effect this 
he employed all his skill, but to no purpose, which led him 
to suppose that she must be protected by some superior 
power. He accordingly applied himself to the study of 
the principles of Christianity, with such beneficial effects 
to himself, that he soon became a convert to the faith, and 
his repentance was as sincere as his iniquities had been 
great. He immediately burned his books, and did every 
thing in his power to atone for his former errors. 

His conversion had such an effect upon the lover of the 
young lady, that he himself became a convert, and soon 
after married the beautiful Justina. 

During the persecution of Diocletian, Justina and Cyp- 
rian were seized upon as Christians, when, after being va- 
riously tortured, they were both put to death by being be- 
headed. 

Martyrdom of Three Sisters? 

Three sisters, whose names were Chionia, Agape, and 
Irene, who had been educated in the Christian faith, were 
seized upon as Christians, in Thessalonica, during the be- 
fore mentioned persecution. Being desirous of continuing 
unknown, they had retired to a solitary place, aiid spent 
their leisure hours in performing religious duties. Being, 
however discovered and seized, they renounced their 
former timidity, blamed themselves for being thus fearfuj, 
and begged of God to strengthen them for the trials that 
awaited them. When Agape was examined before Dalca- 
tius, the governor, she was asked whether she felt dis- 
posed to comply with the laws of the empire 1 she answer- 
ed, " That being a Christian, she would not obey anv 
.aws that commanded the worship of idols and devils, that 
her resolutions were taken, and that nothing should dete/ 
her from continuing in them." 



fox's book of martyrs. 55 

Her sister Cliionia replied in the same manner, and the 
governor finding himself unable to draw them from their 
faith, passed sentence of death upon them, and they were 
accordingly burnt, March 25, a. d. 304. 

Irene was then brought before the judge, who fancied 
that the death of her sisters would have an effect upon her 
fears, and that the dread of a similar fate would induce 
her to comply with his offers of mercy. He therefore ex- 
horted her to acknowledge the heathen deities, to sacrifice 
to them, and to give up her books on Christianity. But 
she positively refused, and told him firmly, that no pun- 
ishment that he had the power to inflict, should ever shake 
her resolution in the least ; that that God who had com- 
manded her to love Him to the last, would give her strength 
to endure her sufferings ; and that she was in readiness to 
follow the example of her faithful sisters, but not to abjure 
her religion. 

The governor finding that he could not prevail on her 
to relinquish her faith, commanded her first to be exposed 
naked in the streets, and when this shameful order was 
complied with, she was burned, April 1, a. d. 204, on the 
same spot where her sisters had suffered. 

Conduct of Philip, Bishop of Heraclea. 

This venerable bishop had ever proved himself to be a 
true Christian, by every work of virtue and charity. He 
was advised by his friends to shut himself up, or to leave 
the city during the persecution, but instead of complying, 
he reproved those with severity who offered this advice, 
and continued in the open performance of his duties, till 
apprehended by order of the governor, who addressed him 
in the following manner, " Bring all the vessels used in 
your worship, and also the scriptures which you read and 
teach ; and see that you surrender th( m, before compelled 
so to do by the tortures that will be inflicted upon you in 
case of a refusal." 

" If," replied the bishop, " you take any pleasure in 
seeing us suffer, my old and infirm body is in your power, 
do with it as you choose. The vessels you demand shall 
be given up, for our God is not honoured by gold and 
silver, but by the fear of his power. But as to the Sacred 



56 fox's book of martyrs. 

volumes, it is neither proper for me to part with them, noi 
for you to receive them." This answer so much incensed 
the governor, that he ordered him to the torture. Hermes, 
one of Philip's disciples, and a deacon of the church, re- 
monstrated with the judge on such an arbitrary act of cruelty, 
for which he was ordered to be scourged at the same time. 
The pagans, having proceeded to the place where the 
scriptures and church plate were kept, embezzled the trea- 
sure, burned the scriptures, and then demolished the church. 
Philip was then taken to the market-place, and com- 
manded to sacrifice to the Roman deities in general, and 
Hercules in particular. In answer to which command he 
made an animated address on the real nature of the true 
Deity, and concluded, with saying that the heathen wor- 
shipped what might lawfully be trodden upon, and made 
gods of things only destined for their own service. At 
this animated address the governor was highly incensed, 
and ordered Phillip to be dragged through the streets by 
his feet, till he was bruised in a most shocking manner. 
He was then brought again before the governor, who 
charged him with obstinacy and rashness, and besought 
him to save his life by acknowledging the Roman deities. 
Philip, however, replied "that he preferred heaven to earth, 
and that his faith commanded him to obey God rather than 
man." Immediately upon this he was sentenced to be 
burnt, which was executed accordingly, and he died prais- 
ing God in the midst of the flames. Hermes and Severus, 
for similar conduct, was shortly after condemned to the 
stake. 

Not long after this Diocletian and Maximian, weary of 
the toils of government, resigned the imperial diadem, which 
checked for a time a persecution more cruel and extensive 
than the church had ever before suffered. Our limits prohi- 
bit from even naming the numerous persons of the highest, 
distinction, as well as thousands of others, in every part 
of the Roman empire, who suffered the most cruel tortures, 
and displayed the utmost fortitude, by occasion of their 
faith as Christians. 

This lesignation took place in a. d. 304, and Constan 
tius and Galerius succeeded to the government of the 
empire. 

Constantius was a prince of a mild, humane, and ami 






fox's boor of martyrs. 57 

able disposition, while Galerius was equally remarkable 
for tyranny and cruelty. These two princes divided the 
empire into two equal parts, the former governing the 
west, and the latter the east. According to the disposition 
of these two sovereigns, such was the condition of the 
church in their respective dominions during their reigns 
While those in the west enjoyed a state of rest and quiet 
Hess, those in the east were made to feel the utmost rigour 
of their cruel and tyrannical master. 

Martyrdom of St. George. 

This eminent saint was born of Christian parents, in 
Cappadocia, by whom he was instructed in the principles 
of Christianity. His father dying when he was young, he 
travelled with his mother into Palestine, "vhich was her 
native country, and where she inherited a large estate, 
that afterward descended to her son. 

George, being ambitious and spirited, became a soldier, 
and was made a tribune, or colonel. In this station he 
exhibited great courage, and was promoted in the army by 
Diocletian. During the persecution he resigned his com- 
mand, went boldly to the senate house and declared him- 
self a Christian, remonstrating at the same time against the 
gods of the heathen. This conduct so incensed the senate 
that they ordered him to be put to the torture, which he 
endured with a fortitude becoming his character. He was 
afterward, by order of the emperor, dragged through the 
streets by his feet and afterward beheaded. 

The calendar commemorates his martyrdom on the 
23d of April, and he is considered as the tutelar saint of 
England. 

Account of Constantine the Great. 

Constantius was succeeded by his son, Constantine 
who is, with much justice, called the Great, as he posses- 
sed every virtue becoming the character of a prince in an 
eminent degree. Not long after the death of his father he 
determined to redress the grievances of the Christians, and 
for this purpose raised an army of 30,000 foot and 8000 
horse, with which he marched toward Rome against the 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

emperor Maxentius. But remembering the fatal miscai 
riages of his predecessors who had maintained a multiplicity 
of gods, and reflecting that while his father adored only one 
God he continually prospered, he rejected the worship 01 
idols and implored the aid of the Almighty ; and such 
weer the miraculous interpositions of heaven in his favour 
says Eusebius, that they would have appeared to him in 
credible had he not received them from the emperor' 
own mouth, who solemnly ratified them with an oath. 

Vision of Constantine. 




" The army having advanced within three miles of 
Rome, the emperor, employed in his devout ejaculations, 
on the 27th of October, about three o'clock in the afternoon 
when the sun was declining, there suddenly appeared to 
him, a pillar of light in the heavens in the form of a cross 
with this plain inscription, on or about it, TOYTS N1KA, 
* In this overcome." Constantine was greatly surprised 
at this strange sight which was equally visible to the whole 
army, who equally wondered at it with himself. The 
officers and commanders prompted by the soothsayers con- 
sidered it an inauspicious omen, portending an unfortunate 
expedition, nor did the emperor himself understand it till 
the Saviour appeared to him in a vision, holding a cross 



fox's book of martyrs. 59 

in his hand, and commanding him to make a royal standard, 
like that he had seen in the heavens, and cause it to he 
continually carried before his army, as an ensign hoih of 
victory and safety. Early the next morning, Constantino 
informed his friends and officers of what he had seen in 
the night, and sending for proper workmen, described to 
them the form of the standard, which was accordingly 
made with the greatest art and magnificence. The form 
of it was thus : A long spear plated with gold, with a 
transverse piece at the top, in the form of a cross, to which 
was fastened a foursquare banner of purple, embroidered 
with gold and beset with precious stones. Toward the 
top was depicted the emperor between his two sons ; on 
the top of the shaft, above the cross, stood a crown over- 
laid with gold and precious stones, within which was placed 
the sacred symbol, viz.: the two first letters of Christ in 
Greek, X and P, stuck one through the other. This de- 
vice he afterward bore upon his shield, and upon his coins, 
many of which are now extant. 

Not long after this he engaged Maxentius, and defeated 
him, entering Rome in triumph. Immediately after this, 
;i law was passed giving free toleration to Christianity 
throughout the empire, and thus ended the bloody trials of 
the church, at least for a season. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

Miscellaneous Persecutions during the Fourth Century. 

After Constantine had subdued Maxentius, the perse- 
cution of the Christians was not only forbidden, but be 
coming himself a faithful follower of Christ, the Christian 
religion was soon established throughout the empire. 

A law was now published in favour of the Christians, 
in which Licinius joined with Constantine, and a copy 
served upon Maximus, Constantino's associate in the em- 
pire. Maximus was a bigottcd pagan, and greatly dis 
nked this edict, but suppressed his disapprobation, forfea 
uf Constantine's anger. At length he invaded the d 



CO 

minions of Licinius, but being defeated he put an end to 
his life by poison. Licinius, however, who at first joined 
with Constantine, caused many eminent bishops and priests 
to be put to death within his own dominions. This hy- 
pocrisy and cruelty so incensed Constantine that he march- 
ed against and defeated him, after which he was slain by 
his own soldiers. 

But notwithstanding the church, in general, enjoyed 
rest and prosperity ; the gospel having spread beyond the 
bounds of the Roman empire, its votaries still continued 
to feel the effects of heathen cruelty, when the power 01 
Constantine did not extend for their protection. 

Persecution of the Christians in Persia, 

In consequence of the gospel having spread into this 
country, the pagan priests became alarmed lest their reli- 
gion should finally become extinct. They, therefore, com- 
plained to their sovereign, that the Christians were ene- 
mies to the state, and held treasonable correspondence 
with the Romans, the great enemies of Persia. The em 
peror, being himself averse to Christianity, gave orders foi 
a general persecution of the Christians throughout his do- 
minions. 

In consequence of this mandate, Simeon, archbishop of 
Selucia, with other ecclesiastics, to the number of one 
hundred and twenty-eight, were apprehended, and accused 
of having betrayed the empire to the Romans. Being 
Drought before the emperor, Simeon boldly avowed his 
faith. Offended at his freedom, the monarch ordered him 
10 kneel before him, as he had heretofore done. To this 
Simeon answered, that being brought before him as a pri- 
soner on account of his religion, it was not lawful for him 
to kneel, lest he should be thought to worship a man, and 
betray his faith to his God. The emperor, still more en- 
raged, told him if he did not knee , he and all the Chris- 
tians in the empire should be put to death. But he still 
rejected the command with disdain, and was ordered to be 
sent to prison. 

A short time after, Simeon and his companions were 
again brought before the emperor for examination, who 
commanded them to worship the sun, agreeably to the 



fox's book of martvrs. 61 

Persian custom, but this they unanimously refused. They 
were then sentenced to be beheaded, which was accord 
ingly executed upon them. 

When Simeon was led to execution, he was saluted by 
Usthazares, who had been the tutor of the emperor, and 
was held in high estimation at court, but Simeon refused 
to return the salutation, on account of Usthazares, who 
having been once a Christian, had apostatized to please his 
master. When thus reproved by Simeon, he could not re 
frain from exclaiming, " Ah ! how shall I hereafter look 
upon my God, whom I have denied, when Simeon, my 
old companion and familiar acquaintance, disdains to give 
me a gentle woro, or to return my salute !" 

The emperor, on being informed of this, called for his 
tutor, and asked him the cause of bis unhappiness ; telling 
him, at the same time, that if there were any thing that 
could be done to make him happy, it should not be with- 
held. To this he replied, " That there was nothing that 
this world could afford that he desired, but that the cause 
of his sorrow was the having denied his God against the 
dictates of his conscience ; for which," continued he, " I 
am deserving a double death : first, for denying of Christ, 
and secondly, for dissembling with my king." 

The emperor, greatly offended at this speech, ordered 
him to be beheaded ; at which, Usthazares requested that 
it might be publicly proclaimed, that he died for no crime 
against the emperor or the state, but only that, being a 
Christian, he would not deny his God. This petition was 
granted, and he died with great composure. 

A short time after this an edict was published, ordering 
that all who confessed themselves Christians should be put 
to death ; in consequence of which, great multitudes suf- 
fered death ; and the persecution continued till Constan- 
tine the Great wrote to the emperor of Persia, requesting 
him in a very friendly manner to desist from persecuting 
the Christians. He enforced his request by declaring that 
it was only through faith ' i Christ that he had been ena- 
bled to subdue his enemies and enlarge the borders of the 
Roman empire. He also ailuded to the troubles of his 
predecessors who had persecuted the Christian church, and 
the prosperity of those who had favoured it ; and con- 
cluded by expressing his desire that he would show favour 



62 

to the Christians that resided in Persia ; and this h<? 
would consider as the strongest evidence of his friendship 
toward himself. 

With this request the Persian monarch immediate!} 
complied, and a stop was put to the persecution, aftef 
16,000 had either suffered death or banishment. 

Persecution by the Arians. 

The sect denominated Arians took their rise from 
Arins, a priest of Lybia, who first began to propagate his 
sentiments in Alexandria, a. d. 318. He was condemned 
by a council of Lybian and Egyptian bishops, and the 
sentence was sanctioned by the council of Nice, a. d. 325. 
After the death of Constantine, they found means to in 
gratiate themselves with his son and successor, and soon 
raised a persecution against the orthodox bishops and clergy. 
The celebrated Athanasius and other bishops were ba 
nished, and their sees were filled with Arians. 

In Egypt and Lybia, thirty bishops were martyred, and 
a great many other Christians were cruelly tortured. In 
a. d. 336, George the Arian, bishop of Alexandria, under 
the authority of the emperor, began a persecution in that 
city and its environs, in which he was assisted by the go- 
vernor and several of the emperor's officers. The cruelty 
of these heretics fell but little short of that practised by the 
pagans. They commenced by shutting up the churches of 
the orthodox party, by banishing them, and plundering 
tneir effects, but soon proceeded to greater deeds of vio- 
lence. As the orthodox Christians were prohibited from 
worshipping in the city, they used ofte%to retire to the 
desert for the purpose, and for a while were permitted to 
do so without molestation ; but on a Trinity Sunday, while 
thus engaged, George, the Arian bishop engaged Sebastian, 
a Roman general, to fall upon them with his soldiers, while 
they were at their prayers, and great numbers were sacrificed 
to the fury of his troops. This outrage was followed by 
others of similar nature, and for several years the whole 
Roman empire was a scene of contention, rapine, and 
slaughter. 

The western half of the empire, however, was more 
free from Arian influence and persecution, as Constans, 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

«ts emperor, favoured the orthodox party, while his bio- 
4ier Constantius favoured those of the Arians. 

Persecution under Julian. 

Julian the apostate, as he is usually called, who suc- 
ceeded Constans in the imperial government, was the sor 
)f Julius Constantius, and nephew of Constantine the 
Great. 

Pie studied the rudiments of grammar under the inspec- 
tion of Mardonius, a eunuch and a heathen. His father 
sent him afterward to Nicomedia to be instructed in the 
christian religion by Eusebius, his kinsman, but his prin- 
ciples were corrupted by Maximus the magician and Eu- 
balius. a professor of rhetoric. 

Constans died in a. d. 361, when Julian succeeded 
him, but he had no sooner ascended the imperial throne 
than he renounced Christianity, and embraced heathenism. 
He again instituted idolatrous worship, by opening several 
heathen temples that had been shut up, rebuilding such as 
had been destroyed, and ordering the magistrates and peo- 
ple generally to follow his example. He did not, however, 
issue any edict against the Christians, but gave free tolera- 
tion to the exercise of every religion, though he deprived 
the Christians of all offices, civil or military, and the 
clergy of the privileges that had been granted to them 
by Constantine. 

Nor did he follow the profligate course of his predeces- 
sors, but was reserved, temperate, laborious, and apparently 
pious, which rendered him a more dangerous enemy to 
the Christians than any that had gone before him. He at 
first attempted to win them over to idolatry by lavishing 
gifts and honours upon such as followed his example of 
apostacy ; and then, by prohibiting Christian schools, he 
compelled the children either to become idolaters or to 
remain illiterate. 

He also ordered that the Christians might be treated 
coldly upon all occasions, and in all parts of the empire ; 
and employed witty persons to turn them and their prin- 
ciples into ridicule. Many also were martyred in his 
reign, for though he did not publiciy persecute them him- 
self, he connived at their being murdered by his governors 



64 fox's book op martyrs. 

md other officers; though he affected never to reward 
Jiem for those cruelties, neither did he ever punish them. 
Among the most distinguished personages who suffered 
martyrdom during his reign, was Basil, who rendered him 
self conspicuous hy his opposition to the Arian heresy 
He was an eminent preacher in the city of Ancyra, the 
capital of Galatia, and notwithstanding he was violently 
opposed by the Arian bishops of Constantinople, he 
continued in the faithful performance of his duty till he 
was apprehended on the charge of being an incendiary 
and disturber of the public peace. But Julian, being en- 
gaged in an expedition against Persia, paid but little atten- 
tion to the subject for the present, during which interval 
Basil improved his time in preaching against idolatry on 
the one hand, and Arianism on the other. 

One day, meeting with a number of pagans going in 
procession to sacrifice, he boldly expostulated with them 
on the wickedness and folly of such worship, and was 
seized by the multitude and carried before Saturninus, the 
governor, to whom he was accused of reviling the gods and 
the emperor, and disturbing the peace of the city. Having 
heard these accusations, the governor desired to know his 
sentiments from his own mouth, when finding him to be 
a strenuous Christian, he ordered him to be put, first to 
the rack, and then to be cast into prison. He then wrote 
an account of his proceedings to the emperor, who not 
only confirmed what had been done, but sent two apos- 
tate Christians to the place where Basil was confined, to 
endeavour to win him over to paganism. Finding theii 
efforts vain they gave over their object ; and immediately 
on the return of the emperor, gave him an account of the 
failure of their exertions. 

Julian then ordered Basil before himself, and by threats 

and promises strove to make him forsake the Christian 

faith and embrace idolatry, but he not only obstinately 

refused, but, with a prophetical spirit, foretold the death of 

the emperor, and that he should be tormented in the other 

world. At the boldness of this conduct the emperor was 

.ry much enraged, and commanded that he should be put 

i death, by having a part of his flesh torn off daily in seven 

Afferent places, till his body was completely mangled. 

'his cruel sentence was accordingly executed, and Basil 



fox's rook of martyrs. 65 

died under the operation, on the 28th day of June, 
a. d. 362. 

About this time also, Donatus, bishop of Arezzo, and 
Hilarious, a hermit, suffered martyrdom, the first being 
beheaded, and the latter scourged to death. Beside these, 
many other persons of distinction, among whom was Ar 
temius, commander of the Roman forces in Egypt, Maxi 
milian and Bonosus, two officers of the Herculean Guards, 
and Marcus, bishop of Arethusa, suffered martyrdom in 
different ways. 

Persecution of the Christians by the Goths, 

During the reign of Constantine the Great, several Scy- 
thian Goths embraced Christianity, notwithstanding, the 
greater part of that people continued pagans. Fritegern. 
king of the western Goths, was an ally of the Romans. 
But Athanaric, king of the eastern Goths, was at war with 
them. The Christians, in the dominions of the former, 
lived unmolested ; but the latter, having been defeated by 
the Romans, wreaked his vengeance on his Christian sub- 
jects. Sabas, a Christian, was the first who felt his king's 
resentment ; he was humble and modest, though zealous 
and fervent in the advancement of the gospel. 

In a. d. 370, Athanaric gave orders for a general sacri- 
fice, and commanded that all who refused to partake of 
that which had been offered to the heathen deities, should 
be put to death. Many of the more humane pagans, who 
assisted at the sacrifice, in order to spare the Christians, 
gave them to eat of that which had not been offered; 
though they managed in such a manner as to make the 
magistrates suppose it had ; but Sabas, too well under- 
stood the sentiments of St. Paul, to suppose that the sin 
lay in eating ; but knew that giving the enemies of Christ 
an advantage over the weak, was all that made the action 
criminal to Christians. He, therefore, not only refused to 
eat of the meat himself,but openly declared, " That those 
who sheltered themselves under this artifice were not good 
Christians." 

Sabas was soon after apprehended and conveyed before 
a magistrate, who, finding that he was a person of obscure 
birth, and small fortune, dismissed him as unworthy of no 

6* 



66 *<ox*s nook o$ Martyrs. 

tice. He accordingly went to spend the ensuing Easter with 
Sansala, a Christian priest of great sanctity, but on the 
third night after his arrival, they were both seized by a 
company of soldiers. Sansala was permitted to dress him- 
self, but Sabas was taken from his bed naked, and com- 
pelled to walk a considerable distance, during which time 
they drove him through thorns and briars. This cruelty 
he bore without a murmur, and when they stopped for the 
night, they extended him between two beams tying his 
feet to one end, and his hands to the other. The woman 
of the house, however, went and released him, but though 
he was now at liberty, he did not attempt to escape. 

On the following morning his persecutors began to tam- 
per with him and his fellow prisoner to renounce their 
religion, but finding them both steadfast, they released 
Sansala, but put Sabas to death by drowning. This hap- 
pened on the 12th day of April, a. d. 372. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Account of Eu$*bius. 

Eusebius, bishop of Samasata, made a distinguished 
figure in ecclesiastical history, and was one of the most 
eminent champions of Christ against the Arian heresy. 
The Arians having advanced Mifetus to the see of An- 
tioch, thinking him of their party, t-Ne document of his ad- 
vancement was placed in the care of Eusebius. When 
Miletus preached his first sermon, me Arians, to their 
great surprise, found that they had b >en mistaken in him 
for his doctrine was pure. They therefore persuaded the 
emperor to displace him, and likewNe to get the instru- 
ment out of the hands of Eusebius. Miletus was accord- 
ingly deposed, and Eusebius commanded to give up the arti- 
cle, but he refused, saying that he could not part with it with- 
out the consent of all parties concerned. The emperor, 
incensed at this reply, wrote to him that he had given the 
messenger orders to cut off his right hand in case he refused 
a second time to give up the instrument. Eusebius, with- 
out the least emotion, offered his han^s and declared that 



POX'S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 

he would lose them both rather than beirar nis trust. 
The emperor, when he was informed of icis, j>plauded 
his resolution, and professed a high etteein for nim ever 
after. 

The Arians now looked upon Eusebius as a powerful and 
dangerous enemy, and as he was very active and success- 
ful in opposing the progress of their heresy, tbey at length 
procured from the emperor an order for his banishment 
from the see of Samasata. 

When the messenger came with his commission, it was 
late in the evening, and Eusebius, who was beloved of the 
people, begged of him to conceal his business ; " For," 
ays he, " if it becomes known, the people will fall on 
you, throw you into the river, and I shall be charged with 
your death." He then went through with his usual devo- 
tions, and late at night set off upon his journey, attended 
only by a faithful servant. 

When, on the following day, his people discovered that 
he was absent, and learning what course he had taken, by 
great numbers pursued him, and when they had overtaken 
him, with tears they besought him not to forsake them ; 
hut finding that they could not prevail, they furnished him 
with every necessary for his journey, and returned. 

Thrace, the country to which he was banished, was at 
the time the seat of war between the Goths and Romans ; 
and in these contests the life of Eusebius was in great dan- 
ger. At length the emperor, in order to put an end to the 
war, determined to march against the Goths in person, but 
first, to secure the pra}^ers of the Christians, he gave peace 
to the church, and allowed the banished prelates to return 
o their churches. Eusebius was therefore restored to his 
ee, but did not enjoy it long, for an Arian woman threw 

tile at him from the top of a house, which fractured 
his skull, and terminated his life. This happened in 
a. d. 380. 

Persecution of the Christians by the Arian Vandals. 

The Arian Vandals proceeding from Spain to Africa in 
the fifth century, under Genseric, their leader, committed 
many horrid cruelties. They persecuted the Christians 
vherever they came, laying waste the country, that famine 



68 POX'S BOOK OF MAftTYRSo 

might destroy what the sword had spared. They plundei 
*d the churches, and massacred the bishops and ministers 
-'V a variety of tortures ; in particular, they poured fetid oil 
, id vinegar down the throats of some till they expired. 
„ ney suffocated some by filling their mouths with mud, and 
murdered others by stretching their limbs with cords and 
screws till the veins bursted. They compelled some of 
.iie nobility to carry their baggage, and if they did not 
ravel fast enough they pricked them onward by sharp 
goads, insomuch that many of them died under their bur- 
dens. Old men found no mercy, and even guiltless infants 
felt the rage of their barbarity ; stately buildings were de- 
stroyed, and the principal cathedrals in Carthage were 
employed in their heretical worship or put to profane uses. 
Where any castle held out against them, they brought great 
numbers of captive Christians and slew them, leaving their 
bodies under the walls, that the beseiged might be forced 
to surrender, on account of the offensive stench that arose 
from them. 

When they had seized and plundered the city of Car- 
thage they put the bishops and all the clergy into a leaky 
ship and committed them to the mercy of the waves, think- 
ing that they all must perish ; but the vessel, through Divine 
Providence, arrived safe at Naples. Several Christians 
were scourged, beaten, and banished to Capsur, where h 
pleased God to make them instrumental in converting 
many of the Moors to Christianity. But this coming to the 
knowledge of Genseric he sent orders thai they and their 
converts should be tied by their feet to chariots and 
dragged till they were dashed to pieces. 

Pampinian, bishop of Mansuetis, was burnt to death 
with plates of hot iron ; the bishop of Urice was burnt ; 
the bishop of Habensa was banished, for refusing to give 
up the sacred books which were in his possession ; and a 
whole congregation who were assembled in a church at their 
devotions, together with the clergyman who was preaching 
to them, were murdered by these barbarians, who broke in 
upon them. 

Archiniraus was a devout Christian upon whom many 
artifices were employed in vain to make him renounce his 
faith. At length Genseric himself undertook to persuade 
Vim, but finding his endeavours ineffective, he ordered him 



69 

o be beheaded. He however ordered the executioner to 
erform his office only in case the prisoner seemed intimi- 
ated and afraid ; " for then," said he, " the crown of 
Martyrdom will be lost to him ; but if he appears courage- 
ous and willing to die, strike not, for I do not intend that 
he shall have the honour of being deemed a martyr." The 
executioner finding Archinimus happy in the thoughts of 
dying for the sake of Christ, brought him back again. Ho 
was soon after banished and never heard of more, though 
it is conjectured that he was murdered privately by the 
king's orders. 

About this time, five thousand Christians of Carthage 
were banished Ly king Huneric into a desert, where a 
great proportion of them perished with famine. 

Persecutions from the Fifth to the Seventh Century. 

From the time of the persecution under Genseric, the 
church, in general, enjoyed a tolerable state of tranquility, 
excepting an occasional tumult between the orthodox and 
Arian, or some other heterodox party. 

The most distinguished of these, is that which occurred 
at Alexandria, about the year 457. 

A new heresy having arisen at about this period, which 
being first propagated by Eutyches, was called by his 
name. He gained many proselytes, especially among the 
Arian party. Among these was Diascorus, bishop of Alex- 
andria. For the embracing of this faith he was tried by a 
council, and condemned to be removed from his see, and 
Proterius appointed his successor, of which choice the em- 
peror approved. After the removal of Diascorus, his adhe- 
rants, who were numerous, determined to resist not only 
the decree of the council, but also the will of the emperor, 
by physical force, and for this purpose armed themselves 
for the contest. The governor of Thebais, to quell this 
insurrection, marched against them with a body of troops, 
but they, being in a kind of phrensy, attacked and defeated 
him. The intelligence of this affair so exasperated the 
emperor, that he sent a detachment of 2000 men against 
them, the sight of whom, together with the prudent con- 
duct of the governor, soon restored peace to the city. The 
disaffected pirty, nevertheless, continued to view Prote- 



ro 

rius with resentment, insomuch that he was compelled tc 
excommunicate some of them, and procure their banish- 
ment from Alexandria. 

In about two years after the emperor Marcian died, and 
the banished persons returned again to the city, where they 
commenced anew their opposition to Proterius, whom at 
last they murdered, a. d. 457, at the altar of his church. 
After which they dragged his body through the streets, and 
then burned it and dispersed the ashes. 

Account of Anastasius. 

Anastasius was by birth a Persian, and instructed during 
his childhood in the pagan religion. He bore arms as a 
soldier under Cosroes, king of Persia, at the time that that 
monarch plundered Jerusalem, and carried off the true 
cross, on which our Lord was crucified. Anastasius could 
not imagine why the Christians had such a veneration for 
a person who had died so mean a death as that of being 
crucified — for that mode of death, by the Persians, is held 
in the greatest contempt. At length some Christian cap- 
tives instructed him in the mysteries of the Christian re- 
ligion, when he left the army, retired to Syria, and studied 
the Greek language, in order to become better acquainted 
with the Scriptures. After this he went to Cesarea, which 
was at that time in the hands of the Persians. Here lie 
was apprehended as a spy, and on confessing himself a Chris- 
tian, he was cast into prison, and many efforts were used 
to prevail on him to relinquish his faith. These efforts 
proving ineffectual, he was put to death in the following 
manner : he was laid upon his back, with a heavy piece 
of wood across his body, and pressed down with the weight 
of two strong men. He was then severely beaten, and 
hung up by one hand, with a weight fastened to his feet. 
\fter remaining in this condition for several hours, he was 
'inally strangled, after which his head was cut off and sent 
o the king. 



FOX'S BOOK OP MAKTYRB. 71 

CHAPTER III. 

Account of Bishop Martin. 

Martin, bishop of Rome, was born in Lodi. He was na- 
turally virtuous, and his parents bestowed on him a liberal 
education. He took orders on the death of Theodore, 
bishop of Rome, and was advanced to that important see 
by a unanimous vote of all parties. 

Not long after his elevation to this important station he 
was called to contend with a body of heretics called 
Monothelites ; who after the decision of the council of 
Chalcedon dared not to maintain the unity of nature in 
Christ, asserted artfully that he had but one will and ope- 
ration of mind. This sect was patronised by the empero r 
Heraclius ; and the first who attempted to stop the pro 
gress of these errors was Sophronius, bishop of Jerusalem. 
Martin, whose sentiments corresponded with those of So- 
phronius united with him in calling a council of one hun- 
dred and five bishops, who unanimously condemned the 
errors in question. 

The emperor, provoked at these proceedings, com- 
manded Olympius, his lieutenant, to repair to Rome and 
apprehend Martin ; but on arriving at the city, he found him 
so much in favour with the people that he dared not attempt 
it, and therefore putting himself at the head of his troops 
marched against the Saracens. 

Another officer was sent soon after to apprehend the 
bishop, who succeeded in so doing only by the aid of a 
large number of soldiers, and brought him before the im- 
perial court at Constantinople. Here he w r as accused of 
holding a treasonable correspondence with the Saracen 
army. This, however, he denied, though he confessed 
that he had sent money for tne relief of the Christian pri- 
soners among them. He was nevertheless stripped of 
all his ecclesiastical dignities and cast into prison. After 
remaining in confinement for several months, he was 
banished to an island at some distance, and there cut in 
pieces, a. d. 655. 

Several other persons of distinction suffered martyrdom 
from the Arian party during this century, among whom 



72 

was John, bishop of Bergamo, who was assassinated on 
the 11th of July, a. d. 683, and Kilien, a distinguished 
Irish ecclesiastic. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Persecutions from the eighth to the tenth century. 



Account of Boniface, 

Boniface, archhishop of Mentz, and father of the German 
church was an Englishman by birth, and is considered as 
one of the brightest ornaments of his country. His name 
was originally Winfrith, and he was born at Kirton, in 
Devonshire, then part of the West Saxon kingdom. When 
only six years old he showed a propensity for reflection, 
and seemed anxious to gain information on religious sub- 
jects. Some missionaries coming into Kirton at about 
this time, stopped at his father's house, which determined 
him to devote himself to a religious life. 

When he informed his father of his resolution, he would 
have dissuaded him from it, but finding him fully resolved 
upon it, permitted him to go and reside at the monastery 
in Exeter. Walfred, the abbot, finding that he possessed 
a bright genius, had him removed to Nutscelle, a seminary 
of learning in the diocese of Winchester. The abbot of 
Nutscelle, who was a man of great learning, took ex- 
traordinary pains with his young pupil, who soon became 
such a prodigy in the science of theology, that he became 
one of the principal teachers. 

We are informed by the ancient Saxon historians, that 
those who studied under him had no need to remove to 
any other place to finish what they had began, for there 
was scarcely any branch of science that he was not fur- 
nished with. His mode of life was exemplary, his man- 
ners amiable, and his character generally such as endeared 
nim to all with whom he was acquainted. 

When about thirty years of age he received holy or- 
ders, and commenced the noble work of preaching tho 



73 

gospel, which was the means of bringing so many savages 
and barbarians from heathenish darkness to the glorious 
light of Christianity. There being an important occasion 
for calling a council in the kingdom of West Saxony. 
Boniface was unanimously chosen to wait upon the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, and make known to him the exi- 
gences of the case. 

Boniface discharged this trust with great prudence and 
discretion, insomuch that he obtained the applause of every 
member of the Synod, but far from being vain of the re- 
putation he had acquired, he asked permission to leave 
his native country, that he might be instrumental in dis- 
seminating the truths of Christianity upon the continent. 
Having obtained permission, he set out on his mission in 
a. d. 716, and on arriving at Friesland, the place of 
his destination, found the country in the utmost disorder 
and confusion, and under the governmant of a pagan 
prince, who refused to receive the gospel ; he concluded 
that the time had not yet come for converting the country 
to Christianity, and returned to his own convent in Eng- 
Jand. 

Soon after this, the Abbot dying, Boniface was invited 
to become his successor, but either did not accept at all 
of the office, or else did not long continue invested with 
his new dignity, for about this time he obtained letters 
from the bishop of Winchester, his diocesian, which re- 
commended him to the pope, and all the bishops, abbots, 
and friars in his way to Rome, when he arrived in the be- 
ginning of the year 719. 

Gregory II., who then filled the papal seat, treated him 
with the greatest respect, and after holding several con- 
ferences with him, gave him an unlimited commission to 
preach the gospel to all pagans, wherever he might find 
them. With this authority he travelled through Lom- 
bardy, and Bavaria, and came to Thuringia, which countr} 7 
had before received the gospel, though it had, as yet, made 
but little progress. His first effort was to bring back the 
corrupted Christians to the purity of the gospel, and having 
completed this pious work, travelled into other parts of 
Germany, and was the means of converting several thoj- 
sand souls to the Christian faith. He then proceeded 
Saxony, where he was more than ordinarily successful 

7 



74 fox's book op martyrs. 

inculcating the principles of true religion. After labouring 
in this field for about a year, he despatched one of his 
companions to Rome with an account of the result of his 
exertions ; upon the reception of his message, Gregory 
sent him a letter, desiring his presence in Rome. Boni- 
face accordingly set out for that city, and upon his arri- 
val, he received from the pope every mark of esteem and 
affection, and was not permitted to return to his labours 
until he had been invested with the episcopal character, 
in order that he might pursue them with more authority, 
and to greater advantage. It was on this occasion that he 
relinquished his name of Winfrith, and assumed that of 
Boniface. 

Gregory having then given him recommendatory letters 
to all the prelates and princes of Christendom, Boniface 
hastened to resume his labours. After preaching with his 
usual success, not only in Germany, but also in several of 
the neighbouring kingdoms, for the term of nine years, he 
was again recalled to Rome by Gregory III., in 731. He 
was now constituted an archbishop, and authorised to erect 
new bishoprics throughout Germany. Here he continued 
to labour with unabated zeal till 752, when, by reason of 
his great age, he consecrated Lallus, his fellow country- 
man and faithful disciple, as his assistant. 

After this he travelled into Friesland, where he conr- 
verted and baptized several thousand of the natives, de- 
molished their temples, and raised churches in their stead. 
Having appointed a day for administering the r'ite of con- 
firmation, he ordered them to assemble on an open plain 
near the river Bourde, whither he repaired the day before, 
to be in readiness on the following morning. 

The pagans having knowledge of this, rushed upon him 
and his associates with great violence, and meeting with 
no resistance, Boniface, with fifty others, was slain. This 
happened on June 5th, a. d. 755. Thus fell the great 
father of the Germanic church, the honour of England, 
and the glory of his barbarous age. 



#^---r.O— '"-H 




FOX'S BOOK OP MARTYXS. 75 

C H AFTER V. 

Other Martyrdoms between the Sixth and Tenth Cen 
turies. 



Massacre by the Saracens, 

Fort} r -two persons of Upper Phrygia, were martyred, 
a. d. 845, by the Saracens, the circumstances of which 
are thus related : 

In the reign of Theophilus, the Saracens ravaged many 
parts of the eastern empire, gained many advantages over 
the Christians, and finally laid siege to the city of Armo- 
rian, in Upper Phrygia. The garrison bravely defended 
the place for a considerable time, but being betrayed by a 
renegado, the town was taken, many put to the sword, and 
two general officers, with a number of persons of distinc- 
tion, were made prisoners and carried to Bagdat. 

They were here loaded with chains and cast into pri- 
son, where they remained for a long time, without seeing 
any person but their gaoler. At length they were informed 
that nothing would preserve their lives but the embracing 
of the Mahometan faith. For the purpose of winning 
them over, the caliph professed great anxiety for their 
welfare, and sent priests to instruct them in the mysteries 
of the Mahometan creed. But notwithstanding they were 
all aware of the consequence, they continued steadfast in 
their faith, rejecting the religion of the imposter with 
horror and contempt. They were accordingly commanded 
by the caliph to be beheaded ; and they were subsequently 
executed, after having been kept in confinement for the 
space of seven years. 

Theodore, one of their number, had formerly received 
orders, and officiated as a priest, but afterward resigning 
his profession, he followed the military life, and at length 
became a commander of distinction. The officer who at- 
tended the execution, being apprized of these circum- 
stances, said to Theodore, " You might, indeed, pretend to 
rank among the Christians while you served as a priest in 
the church, but the employment you have since taken n< 



76 

6 so contrary to your former profession, that you should 
not think of passing among us for one of that religion. 
When you quitted the altar for the camp you renounced 
Christ. Why then will you dissemble any longer 1 Would 
you not act more conformably with your own principles, and 
make your conduct all of a piece, if you come to a resolu- 
tion of saving your life by acknowledging the great pro- 
phet V 1 Theodore, overcome with a virtuous confusion, 
replied, " It is true I did in some measure abandon my 
God when I engaged in the army, and scarce deserve the 
name of a Christian ; but the Almighty has given me grace 
to see my character in its true light, and made me sensible 
of my fault, and I hope he will be pleased to accept of my 
life as the only atonement I can make for guilt." This 
pious answer confounded the officer, who only replied that 
he should soon have an opportunity of giving a proof of his 
fidelity to his Master ; and he was accordingly beheaded 
with his companions. 

Account of Perfectus. 

Perfectus was born at Corduba, and brought up in the 
Christian faith. He made himself master of the useful and 
polite literature of the age, and at length took priest's 
orders, and performed his duty with great zeal and assi- 
duity. One day, while walking in the streets of Corduba, 
some Arabians entered into conversation with him, in 
which they asked his opinion as to Mahomet and Jesus. 
Perfectus gave them an exact account of the Christian 
faith respecting the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and the re- 
demption of mankind ; but would not deliver his sentiments 
respecting Mahomet. The Arabians pressed him to speak 
freely, but he refused, saying, that what he should utter 
-vould probably be disagreeable to them, and therefore he 
vould be silent, as he did not wish to offend any one. 
They nevertheless entreated hin to speak his thoughts 
freely, saying, they would not be offended at any thing he 
might say. Hence believing them sincere, and hoping 
that this might be the favourable time allotted for their 
conversion, Perfectus told them that the Christian looked 
upon Mahomet as one of the false prophets spoken of in 
the Gospel, who were to deceive and seduce great num- 



Yl 

bers to their destruction. To illustrate this he descanted 
on some of the absurd doctrines of the Alcoran, and ex- 
horted them in very strong terms to quit the miserable 
state in which they then were, and which would certainly 
be followed by eternal misery. 

The infidels could not listen to such a discourse without 
conceiving an indignation against the speaker ; they 
thought proper, however, to disguise their resentment, but 
were resolved not to let him escape. At first they were 
unwilling to use any violence toward him, because they 
had given him a solemn assurance that he should come to 
no harm ; but they were soon eased of that scruple, and 
watching a favourable opportunity, seized him, hurried 
him away to one of their chief magistrates, and accused 
him of blaspheming their great prophet. The judge 
ordered him to be put in chains and confined in prison till 
the fast of Ramadan, when he should be made a victim to 
Mahomet. He heard the determination with joy, and pre- 
pared for his martyrdom with great fervency. At the 
time appointed he was led to the place of execution, where 
he made another declaration of his faith, declared that 
Mahomet was an imposter, and that the Alcoran was filled 
with absurdities and blasphemies. He was beheaded a. d. 
850, and his body was interred bv the Christians. 

Martyrdom of two Ladies at Corduba. 

Two ladies, named Mary and Flora, suffered martyrdom 
at the same period as the forty-two before recorded. Flora 
was the daughter of an eminent Mahometan of Seville, from 
whence he removed to Corduba, where the Saracen king 
kept his court. Her father dying when she was young, 
Flora was left to the care of her mother, who, being a 
Christian, brought her up in the true faith, and inspired her 
with sentiments of virtue and religion. Her brother being 
an enemy of Christianity, and of a savage and barbarous 
temper, she was obliged for some time to use great caution 
in the practice of such virtues as must have exposed her to 
a persecution. She was too zealous to be under this re- 
straint long ; for which reason she left Corduba in company 
with her sister. Her departure soon alarmed her brother 
wno guessed her motives, and in revenge informed against 
7* 



Several Christians in Corduba ; for as he did not know 
whither his sister was gone, he determined to wreak h> 
vengeance on such Christians as were present. When 
Flora was informed of these things, she considered herseK 
as the cause of what the Christians had suffered, she re- 
turned to Corduba, and presented herself before the per- 
secutors, among whom she found her brother. " If," said 
she, " I am the object of your inquiry, if the servants of 
God are tormented on my account, I declare that I believe 
in Jesus Christ, glory in his cross, and profess the doctrines 
which he taught." None of the company seemed so much 
enraged at these words as her brother ; who, after some 
threats, struck her, but afterward endeavoured to gain hei 
by expressions of pretended kindness Finding her un- 
moved by all he could say, he insinuated that she had been 
educated in the religion of Mahomet, but had renounced it 
at the suggestion of some Christians, who had inspired 
her with contempt for the great prophet When she was 
called on to answer to the charge, she declared that she 
had never owned Mahomet, but sucked in the Christian 
religion with her milk, and was entirely Jevoted to the Re- 
deemer of mankind. 

The magistrate, finding her resolute delivered her to her 
brother, and gave him orders to use his utmost endeavours 
to make her a Mahometan. She however soon found an 
opportunity of escaping over a wall in the night, and of 
secreting herself in the house of a Christian. She then 
withdrew to Tucci, a village of Andalusia, /here she met 
with her sister, and they never separated again till her 
martyrdom. 

Mary, who suffered at the same time, was the daughter 
of a Christian tradesman at Estremadura, who afterward 
removed to a town near Corduba. When the persecution 
commenced under Abderrama, king of the Saracens, in 
Spain, Mary's younger brother was one who fell a victim 
to the rage of the infidels on that occasion. Mary hearing 
of his martyrdom, and filled with confusion at being left 
behind by one so much younger than herself, went to 
Corduba, where, going into a church, she found Flora, 
who had left her retreat on the same motive. On con- 
versing together, and finding that they acted upon the same 
principles, and proposes me same end to their labours, 



F'OX 1 S liOOK OV MARTYRS. 



?9 



ilaay agreed to go together, and declare their faith before 
the judge. Accordingly, they proceeded to the magistrate, 
when Flora boldly told him that she looked upon Mahomet 
as no better than a false prophet, an adulterer, and a magi- 
cian. Mary also told the magistrate that she possessed the 
same faith, and entertained the same sentiments as Flora, 
and that she was sister to Walabonzas, who had already 
suffered for being a Christian. This behaviour so much 
enraged the magistrate, that he ordered them to be com- 
mitted to prison for some time, and then to be beheaded, 
which sentence was executed on the fourth of November, 
\. n. 850. 




Female Martyrdom. 



Besides the instances already mentioned, many other 
martyrdoms occurred in different countries that our limits 
will not per.nft us to mention. 



80 pox's book of martyrs. 

chapter v 
Miscellaneous Martyrdoms during the Seventh Century. 



Account oj Archbishop Alphage, 

Alphage, archbishop of Canterbury, came from a con- 
siderable family in Gloucestershire, who being devoted 
Christians, gave him an education becoming his station, 
and as he early showed a strong predilection for theologi- 
cal acquirements, he not only prepared himself for taking 
holy orders, but to pursue his study and pious contempla- 
tions, he retired to a secluded spot, and assumed habits of 
the most rigid austerity. But, notwithstanding his solitary 
habits, his talents and virtues soon became known in the 
neighbourhood of his retreat, and many persons were 
anxious to place themselves under his pastoral care. The 
place of his retirement was a cave near to Bath, and 
having early taken the habit of a Benedictine monk, he 
was at length induced to raise a monastery near his cell, 
and having prescribed rules, and placed an abbot over 
them, again returned to his former retreat. 

Shortly after this the see of Winchester becoming va- 
cant, by the death of Ethelwold, a violent dispute arose 
between the clergy of the diocese, as to the choice of a 
successor. When this contest had continued for a consi- 
derable time, the archbishop of Canterbury, who was then 
primate of all England, put a stop to the contest by ap- 
pointing, with the approbation of both partios, Alphage 
to the vacant see. 

The effects of this judicious choice was very soon visi- 
ble throughout the diocese, as piety flourished, unity was 
established among the clergy, and the conduct of the 
church of Winchester made its bishop an object of admi- 
ration throughout the kingdom. 

Dunstan the archbishop had such a veneration for Al- 
phage, that when upon his deathbed he prayed that the 
Lord would cause him to become his successor. This 
prayer was answered, though not till eighteen years aftei 



81 

the death of Dunstan. Soon after Alphago was raised to 
this dignity, he went to Rome, which was in 1006, and re- 
ceived the pall from pope John XVIII. 

When Alphage had governed the see of Canterbury with 
great honour to himself, the Danes made an incursion into 
England. Ethelred, who was then king, was a man of a 
weak mind, without courage sufficient to face the enemy 
himself, or energy enough to furnish others the means of 
doing so. In consequence of this weakness, a great portion 
of the country was plundered and laid waste by the enemy. 
During this crisis, Alphage acted with great decision and 
courage. He went boldly to the Danes, purchased the 
freedom of many of the captives, and provided food and 
clothing for others that he was unable to ransom. He also 
converted many of the pagans to Christianity, which gave 
great offence to the remainder, and they were determined 
to be revenged on him. 

Edric, a British malecontent and traitor, gave the Danes 
every encouragement, and assisted them in laying siege to 
the town of Canterbury, which was soon after taken by 
storm. Having but little mercy to expect from their cap 
tors, the monks fled to the church, and endeavoured to 
detain Alphage while a general massacre was going on 
without. But in spite of their remonstrances, he hastened 
into the midst of the danger, and begged the enemy to 
spare the people, and accept of himself as a victim. The 
barbarians seized him, tied his hands and feet, and abused 
him in the most shameful manner, while they burned down 
his church before him. They then decimated the inhabi- 
tants, both ecclesiastics and laymen, leaving every tenth 
person alive, so that out of 8040 persons, only eight hun- 
dred laymen and four monks remained. 

Alphage was then cast into prison, where, after remain- 
ing for several months, they proposed to ransom him foi 
£3000 ; but not having the means, they put him to the 
torture for the purpose either of extorting it from him, or 
to force him to discover the treasures of the church. But 
as he proved inflexible, he was again remanded to prison ; 
and after six days was brought to Greenwich for trial. 
Here he exhorted them to forsake idolatry and embrace 
Christianity, at which they were so much enraged that 
they dragged him out of the camp, and beat him most un- 



82 FOX'S BtfOK OP MARTYRS. 

mercifully. This he bore with patience, and even prayed 
for his persecutors, till one of the soldiers, who had beer 
converted to Christianity by him, to put an end to his 
sufferings, cut off his head. 

This event happened April 19, a. d. 1012, on the very 
spot where the church of Greenwich, which was dedicated 
to him, now stands. His body was thrown into the water, 
but being found on the following day, was buried in St. 
Paul's church and was removed to Canterbury, in a. d. 
1023. 

Account of Gerard. 

Gerard, a Venetian, having devoted himself to the ser- 
vice of God from a youth, entered into a religious house 
for some time, and then determined to visit the HolyLand. 
On arriving in Hungary, he became acquainted with Ste- 
phen, the king of that country, who acted the parts of 
prince and preacher, and not only regulated his subjects by 
wholesome laws, but taught them religious duties. Find- 
ing Gerard qualified to instruct his people, he tried to de- 
tain him in his kingdom ; and, at length, founding several 
churches, he made Gerard bishop of that of Chonad. 
Here the new bishop had a very difficult task to perform, 
the people of his diocese being accustomed to idolatry. 
The bishop, however, assiduous in his zeal for the salva- 
tion of his flock, laboured to bring them to a sense of their 
duty, and soon had the pleasure to find that his endeavours 
were not unsuccessful, for his sweetness of disposition won 
greatly upon the people. During the life of Stephen he 
received every assistance, but after the death of this prince, 
the throne was filled by Peter, a man of so morose and 
tyrannical a disposition that he was deposed by his sub- 
jects before he had reigned two years. He was succeeded 
by Ouvo, who proved still more cruel than Peter, inso- 
much that he was shortly after beheaded and Peter again 
recalled. The people soon found that retirement had pro- 
duced no change in his disposition, and he was a second 
time deposed, and Andrew, cousin german to Stephen, 
was called to the throne by the nobility, and the crown was 
offered him on condition that he would employ his autho- 
rity in exterminating Christianity from his dominions. 



fox's book op martyrs. 83 

This he promised to do ; upon which Stephen, with three 
other prelates, set out to visit him for the purpose of per- 
suading him to recall his promise, but on the way they were 
met by a company of soldiers who murdered them. This 
was in a. d. 1045. 

Account of Stanislaus, 

Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow, was of an illustrious fa- 
mily. The piety of his parents was equal to their opu- 
lence, and they rendered their wealth subservient to all 
the purposes of benevolence. Stanislaus was their only 
child ; he possessed a penetrating genius, retentive memory, 
and solid understanding ; hence study became his amuse- 
ment. His disposition was not inferior to his abilities, and 
he early gave himself to such austerities as might have 
acquired for him the reputation of a hermit. 

He was first sent to a seminary in Poland, and after- 
ward to the university at Paris. After remaining there 
for several years he returned home, and on the death of 
his parents he became possessed of a large estate, which 
he principally devoted to deeds of charity. His views 
were now solely directed to the ministry ; but he remained 
for some time undetermined whether he should embrace a 
monastic life, or become a secular clergyman. 

He was at length persuaded to the latter by Zula, bishop 
of Cracow, who invested him with holy orders, and made 
him a canon in his cathedral. Here he remained for se- 
veral years in the faithful performance of every Christian 
virtue, insomuch that, at the age of thirty-six years he 
was appointed bishop of the see of Cracow, which had 
become vacant on the death of Zula. Bolislaus II., king 
of Poland, who reigned at this time, possessed many good 
qualities, but giving way too much to his passions, com- 
mitted many errors, and acquired the name of cruel. 
The nobility and clergy beheld his conduct with disappro- 
bation ; but Stanislaus alone had the courage to tell him 
of his faults. The king was greatly exasperated at this 
freedom, but dissembled his resentment, and even promised 
to reform his errors. 

Not long after this, however, he attempted the chastity 
of a married lady, who rejecting his offers with disdain, he 



81 

violated her by force. This iniquitous act greatly in- 
censed the nobility, who calling a council of their col- 
leagues and bishops, remonstrated with the king on the 
impropriety of his conduct. The archbishop of Gresne 
was appointed to bear the remonstrance ; but being na- 
turally timid, he declined ; and when many others had fol- 
lowed his example, Stanislaus volunteered his service, 
nd boldly reproved the king for the heinousness of hia 
crime. 

Bolislaus, violently enraged, threatened the prelate with 
his severest vengeance ; but Stanislaus, unintimidated by his 
menaces, visited him twice more, and remonstrated with 
him in a familiar manner, which increased his wrath. 

The nobility and clergy, finding that the admonitions of 
the bishop had not the desired effect upon the king, advised 
him to desist, and also endeavoured to turn the anger of 
the monarch from Stanislaus, for his charitable remon- 
strances. But the haughty king, determined to rid him- 
himself of so daring and faithful a monitor, hearing that 
he was alone in the chapel of St. Michael, sent some sol- 
diers to murder him. These men coming into his presence, 
were so overawed by the venerable aspect of the prelate, 
that they dared not to raise their hands against him. 
When they returned without having obeyed their orders, 
Bolislaus seized a dagger, hastened to the chapel, where, 
finding Stanislaus at the altar, he plunged the weapon into 
his heart. This occurred on the 8th May, a. d. 1079 



PART III. 



CHAPTER I. 

Persecutions of the JValdenses in France. 

Before this time the church of Christ was tainted with 
many of the errors of popery, and superstition began to 
predominate ; but a few, who perceived the pernicious 
tendency of such errors, determined to show the "ight of 



85 

the gospel in its real purity, and to disperse those clouds 
which artful priests had raised about it, in order to delude 
the people. The principal of these worthies was Beren- 
garius, who, about the year 1000, boldly preached gospel 
truths according to their primitive purity. Many, from 
conviction, went over to his doctrine, and were on that 
account called Berengarians. Berengarius was succeeded 
by Peter Bruis, who preached at Toulouse, under the pro- 
tection of an earl, named Hildephonsus ; and the whole 
tenets of the reformers, with the reasons of their separa- 
tion from the church of Rome, were published in a book 
written by Bruis, under the title of Antichrist 

In the year 1140, the number of the reformed was very 
great, and the probability of their increasing alarmed the 
pope, who wrote to several princes to banish them their 
dominions, and employed many learned men to write 
against them. 

In 1147, Henry of Toulouse, being deemed their most 
eminent preacher, they were called Henricians ; and as 
they would not admit of any proofs relative to religion, but 
what could be deduced from the scriptures themselves, the 
popish party gave them the name of Apostolics. Peter 
Waldo, or Valdo, a native of Lyons, at this time became 
a strenuous opposer of popery : and from him the reform- 
ed received the appellation of Waldoys, or Waldenses. 
Waldo was a man eminent for his learning and benevo- 
lence ; and his doctrines were adopted by multitudes. The 
bishop of Lyons taking umbrage at the fieedom with which 
he treated the pope and the Romish clergy, sent to ad- 
monish him to refrain in future from such discourses ; but 
Waldo answered, " That he could not be silent in a cause 
of such importance as the salvation of men's souls ; where- 
in he must obey God rather than man." 

Accusations of Peter Waldo against Popery. 

His principal accusations against the Roman Catholics 
were, that they affirm the church of Rome to be the only 
infallible church of Christ upon earth ; and that the pope 
is its head, and the vicar of Christ; that they hold the 
absurd doctrine of transnbstantiation, insisting that the 
bread and wine given in th< j sacrament are the very identi- 
8 



86 fox's book of martyrs. 

cal body and blood of Christ which were nailed to the cross ; 
that they believe there is a place called purgatory, where 
the souls of persons, after this life, are purged from the 
sins of mortality, and that the pains and penalties here in- 
flicted may be abated according to the masses said by, and 
the money paid to the priests ; that they teach, the com- 
munion of one kind, or the receiving the wafer only, is 
sufficient for the lay people, though the clergy must be in- 
dulged with both bread and wine ; that they pray to the 
Virgin Mary and saints, though their prayers ought to be 
Immediately to God ; that they pray for souls departed, 
though God decides their fate immediately on the decease 
of the person ; that they will not perform the service of 
the church in a language understood by the people in ge- 
neral ; that they place their devotion in the number of 
prayers, and not in the intent of the heart ; that they for- 
bid marriage to the clergy, though God allowed it ; and 
that they use many things in baptism, though Christ used 
only water. When pope Alexander the Third was in- 
fo med of these transactions, he excommunicated Waldc 
and his adherents, and commanded the bishop of Lyons 
to exterminate them : thus began the papal persecutions 
against the Waldenses. 

Tenets of the Waldenses. 

1. That holy oil is not to be mingled in baptism. 

2. That prayers used over things inanimate are super- 
stitious. 

3. Flesh may be eaten in Lent ; the clergy may marry ; 
and auricular confession is unnecessary. 

4. Confirmation is no sacrament ; we are not bound to 
pay obedience to the pope ; ministers should live upon 
tithes ; no dignity sets one clegyman above another, for 
their superiority can only bo drawn from real worth. 

5. Images in churches are absurd ; image-worship is 
idolatry ; the pope's indulgences ridiculous ; and the mi- 
racles pretended to be done by the church of Rome are 
false. 

6. Fornication and public stews ought not to be allowed ; 
purgatory is a fiction ; and deceased persons, called saints, 
ought not to be prayed to. 



fox's book of martyrs. 87 

7. Extreme unction is not a sacrament ; and masses, 
indulgences, and prayers, are of no service to the dead. 

8. The Lord's prayer ought to be the rule of all other 
prayers. 

Waldo remained three years undiscovered in Lyons, 
though the utmost diligence was used to apprehend him 
but at length he found an opportunity of escaping from 
the place of his concealment to the mountains of Dauphiny. 
He soon after found means to propagate his doctrines in 
Dauphiny and Picardy, which so exasperated Philip, king 
of France, that he put the latter province, which contained 
most of the sectaries, under military execution ; destroy- 
ing above three hundred gentlemen's seats, razing some 
walled towns, burning many of the reformed, and driving 
others into Flanders and Germany. 

Notwithstanding these persecutions, the reformed re- 
ligion seemed to flourish ; and the Waldenses, in various 
parts, became more numerous than ever. At length the 
pope accused them of heresy, and the monks of immo- 
rality. These slanders they, however, refuted ; but the 
pope, incensed at their increase, used all means for their 
extirpation; such as excommunications, anathemas, canons, 
constitutions, decrees, &c. by which they were rendered 
incapable of holding places of trust, honour, or profit ; 
their lands were seized, their goods confiscated, and they 
were not permitted to be buried in consecrated ground. 
Some of the Waldenses having taken refuge in Spain, Al- 
dephonsus, king of Arragon, at the instigation of the 
pope, published an edict, strictly ordering all Roman ca- 
tholics to persecute them wherever they could be found ; 
and decreeing that all who gave them the least assistance 
should be deemed traitors. 

The year after this edict, Aldephonsus was severely 
punished by the hand of Providence ; for his son was de- 
feated in a great battle, and 50,000 of his men slain, by 
which a considerable portion of his kingdom fell into the 
hands of the Moors. 

The reformed ministers continued to preach boldly 
against the Romish church ; and Peter Waldo, in particu- 
lar, wherever he went, asserted, that the pope was anti- 
christ, that mass was an abomination, that the host was an 
idol, and that purgatory was a fable 



88 fox's book of martyrs. 



Origin of the Inquisition. 

These proceedings of Waldo and his reformed com 
oanions, occasioned the origin of inquisitors ; for pope In- 
nocent III. authorized certain monks inquisitors to find 
and deliver over the reformed to the secular power. The 
monks, upon the least surmise or information, gave up 
ihe reformed to the magistrate, who delivered them to the 
executioner ; for the process was short, as accusation sup- 
plied the place of evidence, and a fair trial was never 
granted to the accused. 

Cruelties of the Pope, and artifices of Dominic. 

When the pope found that these cruel means had not 
the desired effect, he determined to try others of a milder 
nature ; he therefore sent several learned monks to preach 
among the Waldenses, and induce them to change their 
opinions. Among these monks was one Dominic, who 
appeared extremely zealous in the cause of popery. He 
instituted an order, which, from him, was called the order 
of Dominican friars ; and the members of this order have 
ever since been the principal inquisitors in every country 
into which that horrible tribunal has been introduced. 
Their power was unlimited ; they proceeded against whom 
they pleased, without any consideration of age, sex, or 
rank. However infamous the accusers, the accusation 
was deemed valid ; and even anonymous informations 
were thought sufficient evidence. The dearest friends or 
kindred could not, without danger, serve any one who was 
imprisoned on account of religion ; to convey to those who 
were confined a little straw, or give them a cup of water, 
was called favouring the heretics ; no lawyer dared to 
plead even for his own brother, or notary register any 
thing in favour of the reformed. The malice of the pa- 
pists, indeed, went beyond the grave, and the bones of 
many Waldenses, who had been long dead, were dug up 
and burnt. If a man on his death bed were accused of 
being a follower of Waldo, his estates were confiscated, 
and the heir defrauded of his inheritance ; and some were 
even obliged to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land, while 



FOX S BOOK OK MARTYRS. 



the Dominicans took possession of their houses and pro- 
perty, which they refused to surrender to the owners upon 
their return. 

Persecutions in Calabria. 




Waldenses in Calabria. 



About the fourteenth century, a great many Waldenses 
of Pragela and Dauphiny emigrated to Calabria, where, 
having received permission to settle in some waste lands, 
they soon, by the most industrious cultivation, converted 
those wild and barren spots into regions of beauty and 
fertility. 

The nobles of Calabria were highly pleased with theii 
new subjects and tenants, finding them honest, quiet, and 
industrious ; but the priests, filled with jealousy, soon ex- 
hibited complaints against them, charging them with not 
being Roman Catholics, not making any of their boys 
priests, not making any of their girls nuns, not going to 
mass, not giving wax tapers to their priests, as offerings, 
not going on pilgrimages, and not bowing to images. 

To these the Calabrian lords replied, that these people 
were extremely harmless, giving no offence to the Roman 
Catholics, but cheerfully paying the tithes to the priests, 

8* 



90 FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

whose revenues were considerably increased by their 
coming into the country, and who, consequently, ought to 
oe the last persons to make a complaint. 

Those enemies to truth being thus silenced, things went 
on in peace for a few years, during which the Waldenses 
formed themselves into two corporate towns, annexing 
several villages to their jurisdiction. At length they sent 
to Geneva for two clergyman, one to preach in each 
town. This being known, intelligence was conveyed to 
pope Pius the Fourth, who determined to exterminate 
mem from Calabria without further delay. To this end 
cardinal Alexandrino, a man of a violent temper, and a 
furious bigot, was sent, together with two monks, to Cala- 
bria, where they were to act as inquisitors. These au- 
thorized persons came to St. Xist, one of the towns built 
by the Waldenses, where, having assembled the people, 
they told them, that they should receive no injury if they 
would accept of preachers appointed by the pope ; but if 
they refused, they should be deprived both of their proper- 
ties and lives ; and that to prove them, mass should be 
publicly said that afternoon, at which they must attend. 

But the people of St. Xist, instead of obeying this, fled 
with their families into the woods, and thus disappointed 
the cardinal and his coadjutors. Then the}' proceeded to 
La Garde, the other town belonging to the Waldenses, 
where, to avoid the like disappointment, they ordered the 
gates to be locked, and all avenues guarded. The same 
proposals were then made to the inhabitants as had been 
made to those of St. Xist, but with this artifice : the car- 
dinal assured them that the inhabitants of St. Xist had im- 
mediately come into his proposals, and agreed that the 
pope should appoint them preachers. This falsehood suc- 
ceeded ; for the people of La Garde, thinking what the 
cardinal had told them to be truth, said they would exactly 
follow the example of their brethren at St. Xist. 

Having thus gained this point by a lie, he sent for two 
troops of soldiers with a view to massacre the people of 
St. Xist. He accordingly commanded them into the 
woods, to hunt them down like wild beasts, and gave them 
strict orders to spare neither age nor sex, but to kill all 
they came near. The troops accordingly entered the 
woods, and many fell a prey to their ferocity, before the 



91 

Waldenses were apprised of their design. At length, how- 
ever, they determined to sell their lives as dear as possible, 
when several conflicts happened, in which the half-armed 
Waldenses performed prodigies of valour, and many were 
slain on both sides. At length, the greater part of the 
troops being killed in the different rencounters, the re- 
mainder were compelled to retreat ; which so enraged the 
cardinal, that he wrote to the viceroy of Naples for rein- 
forcements. 

The viceroy, in obedience to this, proclaimed throughout 
the Neapolitan territories, that all outlaws, deserters, and 
other proscribed persons, should be freely pardoned for 
their several offences, on condition of making a campaign 
against the inhabitants of St. Xist, and of continuing under 
arms till those people were destroyed. On this several 
persons of desperate fortune came in, and being formed 
into light companies, were sent to scour the woods, and 
put to death all they could meet with of the reformed re- 
ligion. The viceroy himself also joined the cardinal, at 
the head of a body of regular forces ; and, in conjunction, 
they strove to accomplish their bloody purpose. Some 
they caught, and, suspending them upon trees, cut down 
boughs and burnt them, or ripped them open and left their 
bodies to be devoured by wild beasts or birds of prey. 
Many they shot at a distance ; but the greatest number 
they hunted down by way of sport. A few escaped into 
caves ; but famine destroyed them in their retreat : and 
the inhuman chase was continued till all these poor people 
perished. 

The inhabitants of St. Xist being exterminated, those 
of La Garde engaged the attention of the cardinal and 
viceroy. The fullest protection was offered to themselves, 
their families, and their children, if they would embrace 
the Roman Catholic persuasion ; but, on the contrary, if 
they refused this mercy, as it was insolently termed, the 
most cruel deaths would be the certain consequence. In 
spite of the promises on one side, and menaces on the 
other, the Waldenses unanimously refused to renounce 
their religion, or embrace the errors of popery. The car- 
dinal and viceroy were so enraged at this, that they or- 
dered thirty of them to be put immediately to the rack, as 
a terror to the others. Several of these died under the 



92 FOX^S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

torture : one Charlin, in particular, was so cruelly used 
that his belly burst, his bowels came out, and he expired 
in the greatest agonies. These barbarities, however, did 
not answer the end for which they were intended ; for 
those who survived the torments of the rack, and those 
who had not felt it, remained equally constant in their 
faith, and boldly declared, that nothing, either of pain or 
fear, should ever induce them to renounce their God, of 
bow down to idols. The inhuman cardinal then ordered 
several of them to be stripped naked, and whipped to death 
with iron rods : some were hacked to pieces with large 
knives ; others were thrown from the top of a high tower 
and many were cased over with pitch and burnt alive. 

One of the monks who attended the cardinal, discovered 
a most inhuman and diabolical nature. He requested that 
he might shed some of the blood of these poor people with 
his own hands ; his request being granted, the monster 
took a large sharp knife, and cut the throats of fourscore 
men, women, and children. Their bodies were then 
quartered, the quarters placed upon stakes, and fixed in 
different parts of the country. 

The four principal men of La Garde were hanged, and 
the clergyman was thrown from the top of his church 
steeple. He was dreadfully crushed, but not quite killed 
by the fall. The viceroy being present, said, " Is the dog 
yet living ? Take him up, and cast him to the hogs:" 
which brutal sentence was actually put in execution. 

The monsters, in their hellish thirst of cruelty, rackea 
sixty of the women with such severity, that the cords 
pierced their limbs quite to the bone. They were after 
this remanded to prison, where their wounds mortified, 
and they died in the most miserable manner. Many 
others were put to death by various means ; and so jealous 
and arbitrary were those monsters, that if any Roman 
Catholic, more compassionate than the rest, interceded for 
any of the reformed, he was immediately apprehended, 
and sacrificed as a favourer of heretics. 

The viceroy being obliged to return to Naples, and the 
cardinal having been recalled to Rome, the marquis of 
Butiane was commissioned to complete what they had 
began ; which he at length effected by acting with such 
barbarous rigour, that there was not a single person of the 



MARTYRS. 93 

reformed religion left in all Calabria. Thus were a 
great number of inoffensive and harmless people deprived 
of their possessions, robbed of their property, driven from 
their homes, and, at length, murdered, only because t'»jey 
would not sacrifice their consciences to the superstitions 
of others, embrace doctrines which they abhorred, and at- 
tend to teachers they could not believe. 



CHAPTER II. 

Persecutions in Dauphiny. 

In 1400, the Waldenses who resided in the valley 
of Pragela, were, at the instigation of some priests, sud- 
denly attacked by a body of troops, who plundered their 
houses, murdered many, and drove others into the Alps, 
where great numbers were frozen to death, it being in the 
depth of winter. In 1460, a persecution was carried on 
in Dauphiny against the Waldenses, by the archbishop of 
Ambrune, who employed a monk, named John Vayieti, 
who proceeded with such violence, that not only the Wal- 
denses, but even many papists, w r ere sufferers : for if any 
of them expressed compassion or pity for the inoffensive 
people who w r ere so cruelly treated, they were accused of 
favouring the Waldenses, and punished. At length Vay- 
leti's proceedings became so intolerable, that a great num- 
oer of the papists themselves addressed a petition against 
nim to Louis XI., king of France, who granted the re- 
quest of the petitioners, and sent an order to the governor 
of Dauphiny to stop the persecution. Vayieti, how r ever, 
oy order of the archbishop, still continued it ; for, taking 
advantage of the last clause of the edict, he pretended 
that he did nothing contrary to the king's precept, who 
nad ordered punisnment to such as affirmed any thing 
against the holy catholic faith. This persecution at length 
concluded with the death of the arcbbisboo, which hap- 
pened in 1487. 



94 FOX'S JiOOK OF MAllTYftS. 

Attempts of the Pope to Exterminate the Waldenses. 

Pope Innocent VIIL, in 1488, determined to persecute 
the Waldenses. To this end he sent Albert de Capi- 
taneis, archdeacon of Cremona, to France ; who, on ar- 
riving in Dauphiny, craved the assistance of the king's 
lieutenant to exterminate the Waldenses from the valley of 
Loyse : the lieutenant readily granted his assistance, and 
marched a body of troops to the place ; but when they ar- 
rived at the valley, they found that it had been deserted 
by the inhabitants, who had retired to the mountains, and 
hid themselves in caverns, <fcc. The archdeacon and lieu- 
tenant immediately followed them with the troops, and ap- 
prehending many, they cast them headlong from the pre- 
cipices, by which they were dashed to pieces. Several, 
however, retired to the innermost parts of the caverns, and 
knowing the intricacies, were able to conceal themselves. 
The archdeacon and lieutenant, not being able to come at 
them, ordered the mouths of the caves to be filled with 
fagots, which being lighted, those within were suffocated. 
On searching the caves, 400 infants were found smothered, 
either in their cradles or in their mother's arms ; and, 
upon the whole, about 3000 men, women, and children, 
were destroyed in this persecution. 

After this tragical work, the lieutenant and archdeacon 
proceeded with the troops to Pragela and Frassanier, in 
order to persecute the Waldenses in those parts. But these 
having heard the fate of their brethren in the valley of 
Loyse, thought proper to arm themselves : and by fortify- 
ing the different passes, and bravely disputing the passages 
through them, they so harassed the troops, that the lieu- 
tenant was compelled to retire without effecting his pur 
pose. 

The King of France favours the Waldenses, 

In 1494, Anthony Fabri and Christopher de Salience, 
having a commission to persecute the Waldenses of Dau- 
phiny, put some to death, sequestered the estates of others, 
and confiscated the goods of many ; but Louis XII. coming 
to the crown in 1498, the Waldenses petitioned him for a 
restitution of their property. The king determined to 



fox's hook op martyrs. 95 

have the iffair impartially canvassed, and sent a commis- 
sioner of his own, together with a commissary from the 
pope, to make the proper inquiries. The witnesses against 
the Waldenscs having been examined, the innocence of 
those poor people evidently appeared, and the king's com- 
missioner declared, " That he only desired to be as good 
a Christian as the worst of them." When this favourable 
report was made to the king, he immediately gave orders 
that the Waldenses should have their property restored to 
them. The archbishop of Ambrune, having the greatest 
quantity of these poor people's goods, it was generally 
imagined that he would set a laudable example to others, 
by being the first to restore them. The archbishop, how- 
ever, declared, that he would not restore any of the pro- 
perty, for it was incorporated with, and become part of his 
archbishopric. He, however, with an affectation of can- 
dour, offered to relinquish several vineyards, of which he 
had dispossessed the Waldenses, provided the lords of 
Dauphiny would restore all they had taken from those poor 
people ; but this the lords absolutely refused, being as de- 
sirous of keeping their plunder as the archbishop himself. 
The Waldenses finding that they were not likely to re- 
cover any of their property, again appealed to the king ; 
and the monarch having attended to their complaints, wrote 
to the archbishop ; but that artful and avaricious prelate 
replied, " That at the commencement of the persecution 
the Waldenses had been excommunicated by the pope, in 
consequence of which their goods were distrained ; there- 
fore, till the sentence of excommunication was taken off, 
which had occasioned them to be seized, they could not 
be res:ored with propriety." This plea was allowed to be 
reasonable ; and application was ineffectually made to the 
pope to remove the sentence of excommunication ; for the 
archbishop, supposing this would be the case, had used all 
his interest at Rome to prevent the application from suc- 
ceeding. 

Progress of the Waldenses. 

At length this sect having spread from Dauphiny jnto 
several other provinces, became very numerous in Pro- 
vence. At their first arrival, Provence was almost a de- 



96 fox's book of martyrs. 

sert, but by their great industiy it soon abounded with corn, 
wine, oil, fruit, &c. The pope, by being often near them 
at his seat at Avignon, heard occasionally many things 
concerning their differing from the church of Rome, which 
greatly exasperated him, and he determined to persecute 
them. Proceeding to some extremities, under the sanction 
of his ecclesiastical authority only, without consulting the 
king of France, the latter became alarmed, and sent his 
master of requests, and his confessor, to examine into the 
affair. On their return they reported that the Waldenses 
were not such dangerous or bad people as they had been 
represented ; that they lived with perfect honesty, were 
friendly to all, caused their children to be baptized, had 
them taught the Lord's prayer, creed, and ten command- 
ments ; expounded the scriptures with purity, kept the 
Lord's day sacred, feared God, honoured the king, and 
wished well to the state. " Then," said the king, " they 
are much better Christians than myself, or my catholic 
subjects, and therefore they shall not be persecuted." He 
was as good as his word, and sent orders to stop the per- 
secution. 

Persecutions in the Valley of Piedmont. 




The Waldenses, in consequence of the continued perse* 
cutions they met with in France, fled for refuge to various 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 97 

parts of the world ; among other places, many of them 
sought an asylum in the valleys of Piedmont, where they in- 
creased and nourished exceedingly for a considerable time. 

Notwithstanding their harmless behaviour, inoffensive 
conversation, and their paying tithes to the Romish clergy, 
the latter could not be contented, but sought to give them 
disturbance, and accordingly complained to the archbishop 
of Turin that the Waldenses were heretics ; upon which 
he ordered a persecution to be commenced, in consequence 
of which many fell martyrs to the superstitious rage of the 
monks and priests. 

At Turin, one of the reformed had his bowels torn out 
and put into a basin before his face, where they remained, 
in his view, till he expired. At Revel, Catelin Girard 
being at the stake, desired the executioner to give him up 
a stone, which he refused, thinking that he meant to throw 
it at somebody ; but Girard assuring him that he had no 
such design, the executioner complied ; when Girard, 
looking earnestly at the stone, said, " When it is in the 
power of a man to eat and digest this stone, the religion 
for which I am about to suffer shall have an end, and not 
before." He then threw the stone on the ground, and 
submitted cheerfully to the flames. A great many more 
were oppressed or put to death, till, wearied with their 
sufferings, the Waldenses flew to arms in their defence, 
and formed themselves into regular bodies. Full of re- 
venge at this, the archbishop of Turin sent troops against 
them ; but in most of the skirmishes the Waldenses were 
victorious ; for they knew, if they were taken, they should 
not be considered as prisoners of war, but be tortured to 
death as heretics. 

Noble conduct of the Duke of Savoy, 

Philip the Seventh, who was at this time duke of Savoy, 
and supreme lord of Piedmont, determined to interpose 
his authority, and stop these bloody wars, which so dis- 
turbed his dominions. Nevertheless, unwilling to offend 
the pope or the archbishop of Turin, he sent them both 
messages, importing, that he could not any longer tamely 
see his dominions overrun with troops, who were com* 
n> aided by prelates in the place of generals ; nor would 

9 



m 

he suffer his country to be depopulated, while he himself 
had not been consulted upon the occasion. 

The priests, perceiving the determination of the duke, 
had recourse to their usual artifice, and endeavoured tc 
prejudice his mind against the Waldenses ; but he told 
them, that although he was unacquainted with the religious 
tenets of these people, yet he had always found them 
quiet, faithful, and obedient, and was therefore determined 
they should be persecuted no longer. The priests then 
vented the most palpable and absurd falsehoods : they 
assured the duke that he was mistaken in the Waldenses, 
for they were a wicked set of people, and highly addicted 
to intemperance, uncleanness, blasphemy, adultery, incest, 
and many other abominable crimes ; and that they were 
even monsters in nature, for their children were born with 
black throats, with four rows of teeth, and bodies covered 
with hair. But the duke was not so to be imposed upon, 
nothwithstanding the solemn affirmations of the priests. 
In order to come at the truth, he sent twelve gentlemen 
into the Piedmontese valleys, to examine into the real 
character of the people. 

These gentlemen, after travelling through all their towns 
and villages, and conversing with the Waldenses of every 
rank, returned to the duke, and gave him the most favour 
abb account of them, affirming in contradiction to the 
priests, that they were harmless, inoffensive, loyal, friendly, 
industrious, and pious ; that they abhorred the crimes of 
which they were accused ; and that, should an individual, 
through his depravity, fall into any of those crimes, he 
would, by their laws, be punished in the most exemplary 
manner. With respect to the children, of whom the 
priests had told the most gross and ridiculous falsehoods, 
they were neither born with black throats, teeth in their 
mouths, nor hair on their bodies, but were as fine children 
as could be seen. " And to convince your highness of 
what we have said," continued one of the gentlemen, " we 
have brought twelve of the principal male inhabitants, who 
are come to ask pardon in the name of the rest, for having 
taken up arms without your leave, though even in theii 
own defence, and to preserve their lives from their merci- 
less enemies. We have likewise brought several women, 
with children of various ages, that your highness maj 



Yn\'b HOOK OP MARTYftS. 99 

have an opportunity of judging for yourself." His high- 
ness then accepted the apology of the twelve delegates, 
conversed with the women, examined the children, and 
afterward graciously dismissed them. He then command- 
ed the priests, who had attempted. to mislead him, imme- 
diately to leave the court ; and gave strict orders that the 
persecution should cease throughout his dominions. 

During the remainder of the reign of this virtuous prince, 
the Waldenses enjoyed repose in their retreats ; but, on 
his death, this happy scene changed, for his successor was 
a bigoted papist. About the same time, some of the prin- 
cipal Waldenses proposed that their clergy should preach 
in public, that every one might know the purity of their 
doctrines ; for hitherto they had preached only in private, 
and to such congregations as they well knew to consist of 
none but persons of the reformed religion. 

When this reached the ears of the new duke, he was 
greatly exasperated, and sent a considerable body of 
troops into the valleys, swearing that if the people would 
not conform to the Romish faith, he would have them flayed 
alive. The commander of the troops soon found the im- 
practicability of conquering them with the number of men 
then under him : he, therefore, sent word to the duke 
that the idea of subjugating the Waldenses with so small 
a force was ridiculous ; that they were better acquainted 
with the country than any that were with him ; that they 
had secured all the passes, were well armed, and deter- 
mined to defend themselves. Alarmed at this, the duke 
commanded the troops to return, determining to act by 
stratagem. He, therefore, ordered rewards for taking any 
of the Waldenses, who might be found straying from their 
places of security ; and these, when taken, were eithei 
flayed alive or burnt. 

Pope Paul the Third, a furious bigot, ascending the 
pontifical chair, immediately solicited the parliament of 
Turin to persecute the Waldenses, as the most pernicious 
of all heretics. To this the parliament readily assented, 
when several were suddenly seized and burnt by their 
order. Among these was Bartholomew Hector, a book- 
seller of Turin. He had been brought up a Roman Ca- 
tholic, but some treatises written by the reformed clergy 
having fallen into his hands, he was fully convinced of 



100 FOX*S BOOK OP MAUTYRS. 

their truth, and of the errors of the church of Rome ; yet 
his mind was, for some time, wavering between fear and 
duty, when, after serious consideration, he fully embraced 
the reformed religion, and was apprehended, as we have 
already mentioned, and burnt. 

A consultation was again held by the parliament of 
Turin, in which it was agreed that deputies should be sent 
to the valleys of Piedmont with the following propositions ; 
1. That if the Waldenses would return to the bosom of 
the church of Rome, they should enjoy their houses, pro- 
perties, and lands, and live with their families, without the 
least molestation. 2. That to prove their obedience, they 
should send twelve of their principal persons, with all their 
ministers and schoolmasters, to Turin, to be dealt with at 
discretion. 3. That the pope, the king of France, and the 
duke of Savoy, approved of and authorized the proceed- 
ings of the parliament of Turin, upon this occasion. 4. 
That if the Waldenses of Piedmont rejected these propo- 
sitions, persecution and death should be their reward. 

In answer to these hostile articles, the Waldenses made 
the following noble replies : 1. That no consideration 
whatever should make them renounce their religion. 2. 
That they would never consent to intrust their best friends 
to the custody and discretion of their worst enemies. 3. 
That they valued the approbation of the King of Kings, 
who reigns in heaven, more than any temporal authority. 
4. That their souls were more precious than their bodies. 

As may be conjectured, these spirited and pointed an- 
swers greatly exasperated the parliament of Turin ; in 
consequence of which they continued with more, avidity 
than ever to seize such Waldenses as unfortunately had 
strayed from their hiding-places, and put them to the most 
cruel deaths. 

They soon after solicited from the king of France a 
considerable body of troops, in order to exterminate the 
reformed from Piedmont ; but just as the troops were 
about to march, the protestant princes of Germany inter- 
posed, and threatened to send troops to assist the Wal- 
denses. On this, the king of France, not wishing to enter 
into a war, remanded the troops. This greatly disappoint- 
ed the sanguinary members of the parliament, and for want 
of porcer the persecution gradually ceased, and they could 



POX'S ROOK OF MARTYRS. 101 

only put to death such as they caught by chance, which, 
owing to the caution of the Waldcnses, were very few. 

After a few years' tranquillity, they were again disturbed 
in the following manner : the pope's nuncio, coming to 
Turin, told the duke he was astonished that he had not yet 
cither rooted out the Waldenses from Piedmont entirely, 
or compelled them to return to the church of Rome. That 
such conduct in him awakened suspicion, and that he 
really thought him a favourer of those heretics, and should 
accordingly report the affair to the pope. Roused by this 
reflection, and fearful of being misrepresented to the pope, 
the duke determined to banish those suspicions; and, to 
prove his zeal, resolved to persecute the unoffending Wal- 
denses. He accordingly issued express orders for all to 
attend mass regularly, on pain of death. This they abso- 
lutely refused to do, on which he entered Piedmont with a 
great body of troops, and began a most furious persecu- 
tion, in which great numbers were hanged, drowned, ripped 
open, tied to trees, pierced with prongs, thrown from pre- 
cipices, burnt, stabbed, racked to death, worried by dogs, 
and crucified with their heads downward. Those who 
fled had their goods plundered and their houses burned. 
When they caught a minister or a schoolmaster, they put 
him to such exquisite tortures as are scarcely credible. If 
any whom they took seemed wavering in their faith, they 
did not put them to death, but sent thom to the galleys, to 
be made converts by dint of hardships. 

In this expedition the duke was accompanied by three 
men who resembled devils, viz. : 1. Thomas Incomel, an 
apostate, brought up in the reformed religion, but who had 
renounced his faith, embraced the errors of popery, and 
turned monk. He was a great libertine, given to unnatu- 
ral crimes, and most particularly solicitious for the plunder 
of the Waldenses. 2. Corbis, a man of a very ferocious 
and cruel nature, whose business was to examine the pri- 
soners. 3. The provost of justice, an avaricious wretch, 
anxious for the execution of the Waldenses, as every exe- 
cution added to his hoards. 

These three monsters were unmerciful to the last de- 
gree ; wherever they came, the blood of the innocent was 
shed. But, besides the cruelties exercised by the duke 
vith these three persons and the aimy, in their different 
9* 



02 

marches many local barbarities took place. At Pignero! 
was a monastery, the monks of which finding they might 
injure the reformed with impunity, began to plunder their 
houses, and pull down their church-^ ; and not meeting 
with opposition, they next seized upon the persons of those 
unhappy people, murdering the men, confining the women, 
and putting the children to Roman Catholic nurses. 

In the same manner the Roman Catholic inhabitants of 
the valley of St. Martin did all they could to torment the 
neighbouring Waldenses ; they destroyed their churches, 
burnt their houses, seized their property, carried away 
their cattle, converted their lands to their own use, com- 
mitted their ministers to the flames, and drove the people 
to the woods, where they had nothing to subsist on but 
wild fruits, the bark of trees, roots, &c, &c. 

Some Roman Catholic ruffians having seized a minister, 
as he was going to preach, determined to take him to a 
convenient place and burn him. His parishioners hearing 
of this, armed themselves, pursued and attacked the vil- 
lians ; who, finding they could not execute their first intent, 
stabbed the poor gentlemen, and leaving him weltering in 
his blood, made a precipitate retreat. His parishoners did 
all they could to recover him, but in vain ; for he expired 
as they were carrying him home. 

The monks of Pignerol having a great desire to get into 
their possession a minister of the town of St. Germain, 
hired a band of ruffians for the purpose of seizing him. 
These fellows were conducted by a treacherous servant to 
:he clergy man, who knew a secret way to the house, by 
which he could lead them without alarming the neighbour- 
hood. The guide knocked at the door, and being asked 
who was there, answered in his own name. The clergy- 
man, expecting no injury from a person on whom he had 
heaped favours, immediately opened the door ; perceiving 
tne ruffians, he fled, but they rushed in and seized him. 
They then murdered all his family ; after which they pro- 
ceeded with their captive toward Pignerol, goading him 
all the way. He was confined a considerable time in pri- 
son, and then burnt. 

The murderers continuing their assaults about the town 
of St. Germain, murdering and plundering many of the 
inhabitants, the reformed of Lucerne and Angrone sent 



pox's book op martyrs. 103 

some armed men to the assistance of their brethren. These 
men frequently attacked and routed the ruffians, which so 
alarmed the monks, that they left their monastery of Pig 
nerol, till they could procure regular troops for their pro- 
ection. 

The duke of Savoy, not finding himself so successful as 
he at first imagined he should be, augmented his forces? 
joined to them the ruffians, and commanded that a general 
delivery should take place in the prisons, provided the 
persons released would bear arms, and assist in the extei 
mination of the Waldenses. 

No sooner were the Waldenses informed of these pro- 
eedings than they secured as much of their property as 
hey could, and quitting the valleys, retired to the rocks 
and caves among the Alps. 

The army no sooner reached their destination than they 
began to plunder and burn the towns and villages ; but 
they could not force the passages of the Alps, gallantly 
defended by the Waldenses, who in those attempts always 
repulsed their enemies ; but if any fell into the hands of the 
troops, they were treated in the most barbarous manner. 
A soldier having caught one of them, bit his right ear off, 
saying, " I will carry this member of that wicked heretic 
with me into my own country, and preserve it as a rarity." 
He then stabbed the man, and threw him into a ditch. 

At one time, a part} 7 of troops found a venerable man 
upwards of a hundred years of age, accompanied by his 
grand-daughter, a maiden of about eighteen, in a cave. 
They murdered the poor old man in a most inhuman man- 
ner, and then attempted to ravish the girl, when she 
started away, and being pursued, threw herself from a 
precipice and was dashed to pieces. 

Determined, if possible, to expel the invaders, the Wal- 
denses entered into a league with the protestant powers in 
Germany, and with the reformed of Dauphiny and Pragela. 
These were respectively to furnish bodies of troops; and 
the Waldenses resolved, when thus reinforced, to quit the 
mountains of the Alps, where they soon must have perished, 
as the winter was coming on, and to force the duke's army 
to evacuate their native valleys. 

But the duke of Savoy himself was tired of the war; it 
tiaving cost him great fatigue and anxiety of mind, a vast 



104 fox's book of martyrs. 

number of men, and very considerable sums of money. P 
had been much more tedious and bloody than he expected, 
as well as more expensive than he at first imagined, for he 
thought the plunder would have discharged the expenses 
of the expedition : in this, however he was mistaken ; for 
the pope's nuncio, the bishops, monks, and other eccle- 
siastics, who attended the army and encouraged the war, 
sunk the greatest part of the wealth that was taken, under 
various pretences. For these reasons, and the death of 
his dutchess, of which he had just received intelligence, and 
fearing that the Waldenses, by the treaties they had en- 
tered into, would become too powerful for him, he deter- 
mined to return to Turin with his army, and to make 
peace with them. 

This resolution he put in practice, greatly against the 
wish of the ecclesiastics, who by the war gratified both 
their avarice and their revenge. Before the articles of 
peace could be ratified, the duke himself died ; but on his 
deathbed he strictly enjoined his son to perform what he 
had intended, and to be as favourable as possible to the 
Waldenses. 

Charles Emanuel, the duke's son, succeeded to the do- 
minions of Savoy, and fully ratified the peace with the 
Waldenses, according to the last injunctions of his father, 
though the priests used all their arts to dissuade him from 
his purpose. 



CHAPTER III. 

Persecutions of the Albigenses. 

The Albigenses were people of the reformed religion, 
who inhabited the country of Albi. They were condemn- 
ed on account of religion, in the council of Lateran, by 
order of pope Alexander III. ; but they increased so pro- 
digiously, that many cities were inhabited by persons only 
of their persuasion, and several eminent noblemen em- 
braced their doctrines. Among the latter were Raymond, 
earl of Toulouse, Raymond, earl of Foix, the earl of Be- 
zieres, &c. The pope, at length, pretended that he wish 



fox's book of martyrs. 105 

ed to draw them to the Romish faith by sound argument 
and clear reasoning, and for this end ordered a general 
disputation ; in which, however, the popish doctors were 
entirely overcome by the arguments of Arnold, a reformed 
clergyman, whose reasonings were so strong, that they 
were compelled to confess tneir force. 

Persecution of the Earl of Toulouse. 

A friar named Peter, having been murdered in the do- 
lninons of the earl of i oulouse, the pope made the mur- 
der a pretence to persecute that nobleman and his subjects. 
He sent persons throughout all Europe, in order to raise 
forces to act coercively against the Albigenses, and pro- 
mised paradise to all who would assist in this war, (which 
he termed holy,) and bear arms for forty days. The same 
indulgences were held out to all who entered for this pur- 
pose, as to such as engaged in crusades to the Holy Land. 
The pope likewise sent orders to all archbishops, bishops, 
&c. to excommunicate the earl of Toulouse every Sabbath 
and festival ; at the same time absolving all his subjects 
from their oaths of allegiance to him, and commanding them 
to pursue his person, possess his lands, destroy his property, 
and murder such of his subjects as continued faithful to 
him. The earl of Toulouse, hearing of these mighty pre- 
parations against him, wrote to the pope in a very candid 
manner, desiring not to be condemned unheard, and as- 
suring him that he had not the least hand in Peter's death ; 
for that friar was killed by a gentleman, who, immediately 
after the murder, fled out of his territories. But the pope 
being determined on his destruction, was resolved not to 
hear his defence : and a formidable army, with several no- 
blemen and prelates at the head of it, began its march 
against the Albigenses. The earl had only the alternative 
to oppose force by force, or submit : and as he despaired 
of success in attempting the former, he determined on the 
latter. The pope's legate being at Valence, the earl re- 
paired thither, and said, " He was surprised that such a 
number of armed men should be sent against him, before 
the least proof of his guilt had been deduced. He there- 
fore came voluntarily to surrender himself, armed only 
with the testimony of a good conscience, and h«>ped that 



106 fox's book of martyrs. 

the troops would be prevented from plundering his inno 
cent subjects, as he thought himself a sufficient pledge for 
any vengeance they chose to take on account of the death 
of the friar." The legate replied, that he was very glad 
the earl had voluntarily surrendered ; but with respect to 
the proposal, he could not pretend to countermand the 
orders to the troops, unless he would consent to deliver up 
seven of his best fortified castles as securities for his future 
behaviour. At this demand the earl perceived his error 
in submitting, but it was too late ; he knew himself to be 
a prisoner, and therefore sent an order for the delivery of 
the castles. The pope's legate had no sooner garrisoned 
these places, than he ordered the respective governors to 
appear before him. When they came, he said, " That 
the earl of Toulouse having delivered up his castles to the 
pope, they must consider that they were now the pope's 
subjects, and not the earl's ; and that they must therefore 
act conformably to their new allegiance." The governors 
were greatly astonished to see their lord thus in chains, 
and themselves compelled to act in a manner so contrary 
to their inclinations and consciences. But the subsequent 
treatment of the earl afflicted them still more ; for he was 
stripped nearly naked, led nine times round the grave of 
friar Peter, and severely scourged before all the people. 
Not contented with this, the legate obliged him to swear 
that he would be obedient to the pope during the remainder 
of his life, conform to the church of Rome, and make ir 
reconcilable war against the Albigenses ; and even order- 
ed him, by the oaths he had newly taken, to join the 
troops, and inspect the siege of Bezieres. But thinking 
this too hard an injunction, he took an opportunity pri- 
vately to quit the army, and determined to go to the pope 
and relate the ill usage he had received. 

Siege of Bezieres. 

The army, however, proceeded to besiege Bezieres, and 
the earl of Bezieres, who was governor of that city, think- 
ing it impossible to defend the place, came out, and pre- 
senting himself before the legate, implored mercy for the 
inhabitants ; intimating, that there were as many Roman 
catholics as Albigenses in the city. The legate replied, 



107 

that all excuses were useless ; the pla.ce must be delivered 
up at discretion, or the most dreadful consequences would 
ensue. 

The earl of Bezieres returning into the city, told the 
inhabitants he could obtain no mercy, unless the Albigenses 
would abjure their religion, and conform to the worship of 
the church of Rome. The Roman catholics pressed the 
Albigenses to comply with this request ; but the Albigenses 
nobly answered, that they would not forsake their religion 
for the base price of their frail life : that God was able, if 
he pleased, to defend them ; but if he would be glorified 
by the confession of their faith, it would be a great honour 
to them to die for his sake. They added, that they had 
rather displease the pope, who could but kill their bodies, 
than God, who could cast both body and soul into hell. 
On this the popish party, finding their importunities inef- 
fectual, sent their bishop to the legate, beseeching him not 
to include them in the chastisement of the Albigenses ; 
and representing, that the best means to win the latter over 
to the Roman catholic persuasion, was by gentleness, and 
not by rigour. The legate, upon hearing this, flew into a 
violent passion with the bishop, and declared that, " If 
all the city did not acknowledge their fault, they should 
taste of one curse without distinction of religion, sex, or 

a S e *" 

The inhabitants refusing to yield upon such terms, a ge- 
neral assault was made, and the place taken by storm, 
when every cruelty that barbarous superstition could de- 
vise was practised ; nothing was to be heard but the groans 
of men who lay weltering in their blood ; the lamentations 
of mothers, who, after being violated by the soldiery, had 
their children taken from them, and dashed to pieces be 
fore their faces. The city being fired in various parts, 
new scenes of confusion arose ; in several places the streets 
were streaming with blood. Those who hid themselves 
in their dwellings, had only the dreadful alternative to re- 
main and perish in the flames, or rush out and fall by the 
swords of the soldiers. The bloody legate, during these 
infernal proceedings, enjoyed the carnage, and even cried 
out to the troops, " Kill them, kill them all ; kill man, wo 
man, and child ; kill Roman catholics as well as Albigenses 
fpr when they are dead the Lord knows how to pick oiil 



108 fox's book of martyrs. 

his own." Thus the beautiful city of Bezieres was re 
duced to a heap of ruins ; and 60,000 persons were mur 
dered. 

Courage of the Earl of Bezieres. 

The earl of Bezieres and a few others made their es- 
cape, and went to Carcasson, which they endeavoured to 
put into the best posture of defence. The legate, not 
willing to lose an opportunity of spilling blood during the 
forty days which the troops were to serve, led them imme- 
diately against Carcasson. As soon as the place was in- 
vested, a furious assault was given, but the besiegers were 
repulsed with great slaughter ; and upon this occasion the 
earl of Bezieres gave the most distinguished proofs of his 
courage, saying, to encourage the besieged, " We had 
better die fighting than fall into the hands of such bigoted 
and bloody enemies." 

Two miles from the city of Carcasson there was a small 
town cf the same name, which the Albigenses had liked 
wise fortified. The legate, being enraged at the repulse 
he had received from the city of Carcasson, determined to 
wreak his vengeance upon the town : the next morning he 
made a general assault : and, though the place was bravely 
defended, he took it by storm, put all within it to the 
sword, and then burnt the town. 

During these transactions the king of Arragon arrived 
at the camp, and after paying his obedience to the legate, 
told him he understood the earl of Bezieres, his kinsman, 
was in the city of Carcasson, and that, if he would grant 
him permission, he would go thither, and endeavour to 
make him sensible of the duty he owed to the pope and 
church : the legate acquiescing, the king repaired to the 
earl, and asked him from what motives he shut himself up 
in that city against so great an army. The earl answered, 
it was to defend his life, goods, and subjects ; that he knew 
the pope, under pretence of religion, resolved to destroy 
his uncle, the earl of Toulouse, and himself; that he saw 
the cruelty which they had used at Bezieres, even against 
the priests, and at the town of Carcasson ; and that they 
must look for no mercy from the legate or his army ; he, 
therefore, rather chose to die, defending himself and his 



POX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 109 

subjects, than fall into tlic hands of so inexorable an enemy 
as the legate ; that though he had in his city some that 
were of another religion, yet they were such as had not 
wronged any, were come to his succour in his greatest ex- 
tremity, and for their good service he was resolved not to 
abandon them ; that his trust was in God, the defender of 
the oppressed ; and that he would assist them against those 
ill-advised men who forsook their own houses, to burn, ra- 
vage, and murder without reason, judgment, or mercy. 

Infamous Treachery of the Legate* 

The king reported to the legate what the earl had said : 
the legate, after considering for some time, replied, " For 
your sake, sir, I will receive the earl of Bezieres to mer- 
cy, and with him twelve others shall be safe, and be per- 
mitted to retire with their property : but as for the rest, I 
am determined to have them at my discretion." This an- 
swer displeased the king; and when the earl heard it, he 
absolutely refused to comply with such terms. The legate 
then commanded another assault, but his troops were 
again repulsed with great slaughter, and the dead bodies 
occasioned a stench that was exceedingly offensive both 
to the besieged and besiegers. The legate, vexed and 
alarmed at this second disappointment, determined to act 
by stratagem. He therefore sent a person, well skilled in 
dissimulation and artifice, to the earl of Bezieres with a 
seeming friendly message. The design was, by any means, 
to induce the earl to leave the city, in order to have an 
interview with the legate ; and to this end the messenger 
was to promise or swear whatever he thought proper ; 
" For," said the legate, " swear to what falsehoods you will 
in such a cause, I will give you absolution." 

This infamous plot succeeded : for the earl, believing 
the promises made him of personal security, and crediting 
.the solemn oaths that the perjured agent swore upon the 
occasion, left the city and went with him. The legate no 
sooner saw him, than he told him that he was a prisoner, 
and must remain so till Carcasson was surrendered, 
and the inhabitants taught their duty to the pope. The 
ea> , on hearing this, cried out that ne was betrayed, and 
e aimed against the treachery of the legate, and the per 

10 



110 FOX^S ISOOR 01' MAtltYftS. 

jury of the person he had employed. Bui he was ordered 
Into close confinement, and the place summoned to sur- 
render immediately. 

The people, on hearing of the captivity of the earl, were 
thrown into the utmost consternation, when one of the 
citizens informed the rest, that he had been formerly told 
by some old men that there was a very capacious sub- 
terraneous passage, which led from thence to the castle of 
Camaret, at three leagues distance. " If," continued he, 
11 we can find this passage, we may all escape before the 
legate can be apprized of our flight." This information 
was joyfully received ; all were employed to search for the 
passage ; and, at length, it was discovered. Early in the 
evening the inhabitants began their flight, taking with 
them their wives, children, a few days' provisions, and 
such property as was most valuable and portable. They 
reached the castle by the morning, and escaped to Ar- 
ragon, Catalonia, and such other places as they thought 
would secure them from the power of the sanguinary 
legate. 

Next morning the troops were astonished, not hearing 
any noise nor seeing any man stir in the city ; yet they 
approached the walls with much fear, lest it should be but 
a stratagem to endanger them ; but finding no opposition, 
they mounted the walls, crying out that the Albigenses 
were fled ; and thus was the city, with all the spoils, 
taken, and the earl of Bezieres committed to prison in one 
of the strongest towers of the castle, where he soon after 
died. 

The legate now called all the prelates and great lords 
of his army together, telling them, that though it was re- 
quisite there should be always a legate in the army, yet it 
was likewise necessary that there should be a secular gene- 
ral, wise and valiant, to command in all their affairs, &c. 
This charge was first offered to the duke of Burgogne, then 
to the earl of Ennevers, and, thirdly, to the earl of St. 
Paul ; but they all refused it. At length it was offered 
to Simon, earl of Montfort, who, after some excuses, ac- 
cepted of it. Four thousand men were left to garrison 
Oarcasson, and the deceased earl of Bezieres was suc- 
ceeded in title and dignity by earl Simon, a bigoted Ro- 
man Catholic, who threatened vengeance on the Albigenses 



fox's nook OF faAttTVltS 111 

.nless they conformed to the worship of the church of 
Rome. Bo*, the king of Arragon, who was in his heart of 
.he reformed persuasion, secretly encouraged the Albi- 
genses, and gave them hopes that if they acted with pru- 
dence they might cast off the yoke of the tyrannical earl 
Simon. They took his advice, and while Simon was gone 
to Montpelier, they surprised some of his fortresses, and 
were successful in several expeditions against his officers. 

Conduct of Simon, 

These proceedings so enraged Simon, that returning 
from Montpelier, he collected together some forces, 
marched against the Albigenses, and ordered every pri- 
soner he took to be immediately burnt. But not succeed- 
ing in some of his enterprises, he grew disheartened, and 
wrote to ever}' Roman Catholic power in Europe to send 
him assistance, otherwise he should not be able to hold 
out against the Albigenses. He soon received some suc- 
cours, with which he attacked the Castle of Beron, and 
making himself master of it, ordered the eyes to be put 
out and the noses to be cut off of all the garrison, one 
person alone accepted, who was deprived of one eye only, 
that he might conduct the rest to Cabaret. He then un- 
dertook the siege of Menerbe, which, on account of the 
want of water, was obliged to yield to him. The lord of 
Termes, the governor, was put in prison, where he died ; 
his wife, sister, daughter, and one hundred and eighty 
others, were committed to the flames. Many other castles 
surrendered to the forces of this monster, and the inhabit- 
ants were butchered in a manner equally barbarous. 

In the mean time the earl of Toulouse, by means of 
letters of recommendation from the king of France, was 
reconciled to the pope : at least the pope pretended to 
give him remission for the death of friar Peter, and to 
absolve him from all other crimes he had committed. But 
the legate, by the connivance of the pope, did all he could 
to ruin the earl. Some altercations having passed between 
them, the legate excommunicated the earl ; and the bishop 
of Toulouse, upon this encouragement, sent this impudent 
message to the earl, " That as he was an excommunicated 
person, he commanded him to depart the city ; for an ec- 



112 

clesiastic could not say mass with propriety, while a pp. 
son of such a description was so near him." 

Being greatly exasperated at the bishop's insolence, the 
earl sent him an order immediately to depart from the 
place on pain of death. This order was all the prelate 
wanted, as it would give him some reason to complain of 
his lord. The bishop, with the canons of the cathedral 
church, marched out of the city in solemn procession, 
barefooted, and bareheaded, taking with them the cross, 
banner, host, &c, and proceeded in that manner to the 
"egate's army, where they were received with great respect 
as persecuted saints, and the legate thought this a suffi- 
cient excuse to proceed against the earl of Toulouse for 
having, as he termed it, relapsed from the truth. He at- 
tempted to get the earl into his power by stratagem, but 
the latter being apprized of the design, escaped. The le- 
gate, enraged at this disappointment, laid siege to the cas 
tie of Montferrand, which belonged to the earl, and was 
governed by Baldwin his brother. On the first summons 
Baldwin not only surrendered, but abjured bis religion, 
and turned papist. This event, which severely afflicted 
the earl, was followed by another that gave him still 
greater mortification ; for his old friend the king of Arra- 
gon forsook his interest ; and agreed to give his daughter 
in marriage to earl Simon's eldest son : the legate's troops 
were then joined by the forces of Arragon and those be- 
.onging to earl Simon, on which they jointly laid siege to 
Toulouse. 

Succesrss of the Albigenses. 

Nevertheless, the Earl determine to interrupt the be- 
siegers by frequent sallies. In the first attempt he met 
with a severe repulse ; but in the second he took Simon's 
son prisoner, and in the third he unhorsed Simon himself. 
After several furious assaults given by the popish army, 
and some successful sallies of the Albigenses, the earl of 
Toulouse compelled his enemies to raise the siege. In their 
retreat they did much mischief in the countries through 
which they passed, and put many defenceless Albigenses 
to death. 

The Earl of Toulouse now did all he could to recover 



118 

the friendship of the king of Arragon ; and as the mar- 
riage ceremony between that monarch's daughter and Si- 
mon's son had not been performed, he entreated him to 
break off that match, and proposed another more proper, 
viz. : that his own eldest son and heir should wed the 
princess of Arragon, and that by this match their friend- 
ship should be again united and more firmly cemented 
His majesty was easily persuaded not only to agree to this 
proposal, but to form a league with the principal Albigen- 
ses, and to put himself as captain-general at the head of 
their united forees, consisting of his own people, and of 
the troops of the earls of Toulouse, Foix, and Comminges. 
The papists were greatly alarmed at those proceedings ; 
Simon sent to all parts of Europe, to engage the assistance 
of the Roman Catholic powers, and the pope's legate be- 
gan hostilities by entering the dominions of the Earl of 
Foix, and committing the most cruel depredations. 

As soon as the army of Albigenses was ready, the king 
of Arragon began his operations by laying siege to Murat, 
a strongly fortified town near Toulouse, belonging to the 
Roman Catholics. Earl Simon, by forced marches, came 
to the assistance of the place, at a time when the king of 
Arragon, who kept very little discipline in his army, was 
feasting and revelling. Simon suddenly attacked the Al- 
bigenses, while they were in confusion, when the united 
forces of the reformed were defeated, and the king of Ar- 
ragon was killed. The loss of this battle was imputed to 
the negligence of the king, who would have as much enter- 
tainment in a camp as if he had been securely at peace in 
his capital. This victory made the popish commanders 
declare they would entirely extirpate the whole race of the 
Albigenses ; and Simon sent an insolent message to the 
earls of Toulouse, Foix, and Comminges, to deliver to him 
all the castles and fortresses of which they were possessed. 
Those noblemen, instead of answering the demand, retired 
to their respective territories, to put them into the best 
posture of resistance. 

Surrender of Toulouse, 

Soon after, Simon marched towards the city of Tou- 
louse, when the earl of Toulouse, who had retired to Mon- 
\0* 



]]4 fox's book of martyrs. 

talban, sent word to the citizens to make the best terms 
they could with the Roman Catholics, as he was confident 
they could not hold out a siege ; but he recommended 
them to preserve their hearts for him, though they surren- 
dered their persons to one another. The citizens of Tou 
louse, upon receiving this intimation, sent deputies to Si- 
mon, with offers of immediate surender, provided the city 
itself, and the persons and properties of its inhabitants, 
should be protected from devastation. These conditions 
wore agreed to, and Simon, in order to ingratiate himself at 
court, wrote a letter to Prince Louis, the son of Philip, 
king of France, informing him that the city of Toulouse 
had offered to surrender to him ; but being willing that the 
prince should have the honour of receiving the keys and the 
homage of the people, he begged that he would repair to 
the camp for that purpose. The prince, pleased with the 
invitation, went directly to the army, and had the city ot 
Toulouse surrendered to him in form. The pope's legate, 
however, was greatly displeased at the mild conditions 
granted to the people, and insisted, that though the prince 
might take upon him the sovereignity of the place and re- 
ceive the homage of the people, yet the plunder belonged 
to the holy pilgrims , (for so the popish soldiers employed 
in these expeditions were called ;) and that the place, as a 
receptacle of heretics, ought to be dismantled. The prince 
and earl Simon in vain remonstrated against proceedings 
so contrary to the conditions granted at the surrender : the 
legate was peremptory, when earl Simon and the Prince, 
unwilling to come to an open rupture with him gave up the 
point. The legate immediately set his holy pilgrims to 
work, when they presently dismantled the city, and plun- 
dered the inhabitants of all their property, in defiance of 
the security granted to them by the articles of the sur- 
render. 

Dispute between the Legate and Prince. 

Now the legate finding that among the Albigenses were 
many lucrative places which would fall to the disposal of 
the prince, determined, by an artifice, to deprive him of 
any advantage which might accrue from them ; to this end 
he {'vya absolution to the Albigenses, which, though they 



fox's hook of martyr?. 115 

had not in the least changed their religious opinions, he 
called reconciling them to the church. The prince, not 
apprized of this stratagem, was ahout to give his officers 
possession of some places of profit ; when, to his great 
astonishment, the legate informed him, that he had no 
power to dispose of those places. The prince demanded 
an explanation of his meaning. " My meaning," replied 
the legate, " is, that the people have received absolution, 
and being reconciled to, are consequently under the pro- 
tection of the church ; therefore, all places among or con- 
nected with them, are in the disposal of the church only." 
The prince, offended at this mode of reasoning, and 
highly displeased at the meanness of the subterfuge, never- 
heless thought proper to dissemble his resentment. But 
being determined to quit the legate, he put the troops that 
were under his command in motion, and marched to attack 
some other fortresses ; but he found, wherever he came, 
that the legate had played the same trick, and plainly per- 
ceived, if he continued his military operations, that when 
unsuccessful, he should bear all the blame, and when suc- 
cessful, the legate would steal all the profit ; he therefore 
left the army in disgust, and returned to court. 

Defeat of Earl Simon. 

On this, earl Simon, with his own forces, those the 
prince had just quitted, and some other auxiliaries, under- 
took the siege of Foix, being chiefly provoked to it by the 
death of his brother, who was slain by the earl of Foix 
He lay before the castle of Foix for ten days, during which 
time he frequently assaulted it, but was as often repulsed. 
Hearing that an army of Arragonese were in full march 
toward him, in order to revenge the death of their king 
he raised the siege and went to meet them. The earl of 
Foix immediately sallied out and harassed his rear, and 
the Arragonese attacking his front, gave him a total defeat, 
which compelled him to shut himself up in Carcasson. 

Soon afterward the pope's legate called a council at 
Montpelier, for renewing the military operations against 
the Albigenses, and for doing proper honour to earl 
Simon, who was present ; for the Arragonese, not taking 
idvantage of their victory, had neglected to block uo Car- 



116 fox's book of martyrs. 

casson, by which omission Simon had an opportunity of 
repairing to Montpelier. On meeting the council, *he 
legate, in the pipe's name, paid many compliments to 
Simon, and declared that he should be prince of all the 
countries that might in future be taken from the Albigen- 
ses : at the same time, by order of the pontiff, he styled 
him " the active and dexterous soldier of Jesus Christ, and 
the invincible defender of the catholic faith." But just as 
the earl was about to return thanks for these great honours 
and fine encomiums, a messenger brought word that the 
people, having heard earl Simon was in the council, had 
taken up arms, and were coming thither to destroy him as 
a common disturber. This intelligence threw the whole 
council into great confusion : and earl Simon, though a 
minute before styled an invincible defender of the faith, 
jumped out of a window, and stole away from the city. 

Council of Lateran. 

The disputes becoming serious, according to the opinion 
of the papists, the pope himself soon after called a council, 
to be held at Lateran, in which great powers were granted 
to Roman catholic inquisitors, and many Albigenses were im- 
mediately put to death. This council of Lateran likewise 
confirmed to earl Simon all the honours intended him by the 
council of Montpelier, and empowered him to raise ano- 
ther army against the Albigenses. Earl Simon immediately 
repaired to court, received his investiture from the French 
king, and began to levy forces. Having now a considera- 
ble number of troops, Fie determined, if possible, to exter- 
minate the Albigenses, when he received advice, that his 
countess was besieged in Narbonne by the earl of Tou- 
louse. He proceeded to the relief of his wife, when the 
Albigenses met him, gave him battle, and defeated hiw ; 
but he found means to escape and get into the castle of 
Narbonne. 

Recovery of Toulouse by the Albigenses. 

After this, Toulouse was recovered by the Albigenses ; 
but the pope espousing earl Simon's cause, raised forces 
for him, and enabled him once more to undertake the siege 



1]7 

of that city. The earl assaulted the place furiously, but 
Deiug repulsed with great loss, he seemed sunk in affliction : 
when the pope's legate said to comfort him, " Fear 
nothing, my lord, make another vigorous attack ; let us 
by any means recover the city and destroy the inhabit- 
ants ; and those of our men who are slain in the fight, I 
will assure you shall immediately pass into paradise." One 
of the earl's principal officers, on hearing this, said with a 
sneer, " Monsieur cardinal, you talk with great assurance ; 
but if the earl believes you, he will, as heretofore, pav 
dearly for his confidence." Earl Simon, however, tooK 
the legate's advice, made another assault, and was again 
repulsed. To complete his misfortune, before the troops 
could recover from their confusion, the earl of Foix made 
his appearance, at the head of a formidable body of forces, 
and attacking the already dispirited army of earl Simon, 
easily put them to the rout ; when the earl himself nar- 
rowly escaped drowning in the Garonne, into which he had 
hastily plunged, in order to avoid being captured. This 
miscarriage almost broke his heart ; but the people's legate 
continued to encourage him, and offered to raise another 
army ; which promise, with some difficulty, and three years 
delay, he at length performed, and that bigoted nobleman 
was once more enabled to take the field. On this occa- 
sion he turned his whole force against Toulouse, which 
he besieged for the space of nine months, when in one of 
the sallies made by the besieged, his horse was wounded. 
The animal being in great anguish, ran away with him, 
and bore him directly under the ramparts of the city, when 
an archer shot him in the thigh with an arrow ; and a 
woman immediately after throwing a large stone from the 
wall, it struck him upon the head, and killed him ; thus 
were the Albigenses, like the Israelites, delivered by the 
hand of a woman ; and thus this atrocious monster, who 
had so long persecuted the people of God, was at length 
himself slain by one of those whom he had intended to 
have slaughtered if he had been successful. The siege 
was raised ; but the legate, enraged to be disappointed of 
his vengeance on the inhabitants, engaged the king of 
France in the cause, who sent his son to besiege it. The 
French prince, with some chosen + roops, furiously assault- 
ed Toulouse ; but meeting with i severe repulse, he 



118 POX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

abandoned that city to besiege Miroraand. This place he 
soon took by storm, and put to the sword all the inhabit- 
ants, consisting of 5000 men, women, and children. 

Guido, earl of Montfort, the son of earl Simon, under- 
took the command of the troops, and laid siege to Tou- 
louse, before the walls of which he was killed. His brother 
Almeric succeeded to the command, but was soon obliged 
to raise the siege. On this the legate prevailed upon the 
king of France to undertake the siege of Toulouse in per- 
son. The earl of Toulouse sent the women, children, cat- 
tle, &c, into secure places in the mountains, ploughed up 
the land, that the king's forces should not obtain forage, 
and did all that a skilful general could perform to distress 
the enemy. By these wise regulations the French army 
suffered all the extremities of famine, which obliged the 
troops to feed on the carcasses of dogs, cats, &c. which 
diet produced the plague. The king died of grief; but 
his son, who succeeded him, determined to carry on the 
war : he was, however, defeated in three engagements by 
the earl of Toulouse. The king, the queen-mother, and 
three archbishops again raised an army, and had the art to 
persuade the earl of Toulouse to come to a conference, 
when he was made a prisoner, and forced to appear bare- 
footed and bareheaded before his enemies, and to subscribe 
to the following ignominious conditions : 1. That he should 
abjure the faith that he had hitherto defended. 2. That 
he should be subject to the church of Rome. 3. That he 
should give his daughter Joan in marriage to one of the 
brothers of the king of France. 4. That he should main- 
tain in Toulouse six popish professors of the liberal arts, 
and two grammarians. 5. That he should take upon him 
the cross, and serve five years against the Saracens. 6. 
That he should level the walls of Toulouse with the ground. 
7. That he should destroy thirty of his other cities and cas- 
tles, as the legate should direct. 8. That he should re- 
main prisoner at Paris till his daughter was delivered to the 
king's commissioners. After these cruel conditions a se- 
vere persecution took place against the Albigenses, many 
of whom suffered for the faith ; and express orders were 
issued that the laity should not be permitted to read the 
sacred writings ! 

From this period wo find no further account of the Al* 



BOOK OP MARTYRS. 



19 



bigenses till the commencement of the seventeenth c tury : 
but although they are not distinctly mentioned, the; suffer- 
ed cruel persecutions at various times. 



CHAPTER IV 




Martyrdom of Marcus, bishop of Arethusa. 

Persecutions in France. 



During the internal commotions of this country, which 
lasted from about the middle of the sixteenth century to the 
time of the general massacre of the protestants in 1572, a 
constant persecution had been carried on against the pro- 
testants, during which several thousand suffered martyr- 
dom by the most horrid cruelty. 

Horrible Massacre of a. d. 1572. 

After a long series of troubles, the papists seeing 
nothing could be done against the protestants by open 
force, began to devise how they could entrap them by sub- 
tlety, and that by two ways : first, by pretending that an 
army was to be sent into the lower country, under the com- 
mand of the admiral, prince of Navarre and Conde ; not 



120 fox's book of martyrs. 

that the king had any intention of so doing, but only with 
a view to ascertain what force the admiral had under him, 
who they were, and what were their names. The second 
was, a marriage suborned between the prince of Navarre 
and the sister of the king of France ; to which were to be 
invited all the chief protestants. Accordingly they first 
began with the queen of Navarre ; she consented to come 
to Paris, where she was at length won over to the king's 
mind. Shortly after she fell sick, and died within five 
days, not without suspicion of poison ; but her body being 
opened, no sign thereof appeared. A certain apothecary, 
however, made his boast, that he had killed the queen by 
venomous odours and smells, prepared by himself. 

Notwithstanding this, the marriage still proceeded. The 
admiral prince of Navarre and Conde, with divers other 
chief states of the protestants, induced by the king's letters 
and many fair promises, came to Paris, and were received 
with great solemnity. The marriage at length took place 
on the 18th of August, 1572, and was solemnized by the 
cardinal of Bourbon, upon a high stage set up on purpose 
without the church walls ; the prince of Navarre and 
Conde came down, waiting for the king's sister, who was 
then at mass. This done, the company all went to tho 
bishop's palace to dinner. In the evening they were con- 
ducted to the king's palace to supper. Four days after 
this, the admiral coming from the council table, on his way 
was shot at with a pistol, charged with three bullets, and 
wounded in both his arms. Notwithstanding which, he still 
remained in Paris, although the Vidam advised him to 
flee. 

Soldiers were appointed in various parts of the city to 
be ready at a watch-word, upon which they rushed out to 
the slaughter of the protestants, beginning with the admi- 
ral, who being dreadfully wounded, was cast out of the 
window into the street, where his head being struck off, 
was embalmed with spices to be sent to the pope. The 
savage people then cut off his arms and privy members, 
and drew him in that state through the streets of Paris, 
after which they took him to the place of execution, out of 
the city, and there hanged him up by the heels, exposing 
nis mutilated body to the scorn of the populace. 

The martyrdom of this virtuous man had no sooner 



MARTYRS. 121 

aken place than the armed soldiers ran about slaying all 
ilie protestants they could find within the city. This con- 
tinued many days, but the greatest slaughter was in the 
three fust days, in which were said to be murdered above 
10,000 men and women, old and young, of all sorts and 
conditions. The bodies of the dead were carried in carts 
and thrown into the river, which was all stained therewith; 
also whole streams in various parts of the city ran with 
the blood of the slain. In the number that were slain of 
the more learned sort, were Petrus Ramus, Lambinus, 
Plateanus, Lomenius, Chapesius, and others. 

These brutal deeds were not confined within the walls 
of Paris, but extended into other cities and quarters of the 
realm, especially to Lyons, Orleans, Toulouse, and Rouen, 
where the cruelties were unparalleled. Within the space 
of one month thirty thousand protestants, at least, are said 
to have been slain, as is credidly reported by them who 
testify of the matter. 

When intelligence of the massacre was received at 
Rome, the greatest rejoicings were made. The pope and 
cardinals went in solemn procession to the church of St. 
Mark to give thanks to God. A jubilee was also published, 
and the ordnance fired from the castle of St. Angelo. To 
the person who brought the news the cardinal of Lorraine 
gave one thousand crowns. Like rejoicings were also 
made all over France for this imagined overthrow of the 
faithful. 

The following are among the particulars recorded of the 
above enormities : 

The admiral, on being wounded in both his arms, said 
to Maure, preacher to the queen of Navarre, " O my 
brother, I now perceive that I am beloved of my God, 
seeing that for his most holy name's sake I do suffer these 
wounds." He was slain by Bemjus, who afterward re- 
ported that he never saw man so constantly and confidently 
suffer death. 

Many honourable men and great personages were at 
the same time murdered, namely, Count Rochefoucault, 
Telinius, the admiral's son-in-law, Antonius Claromontus, 
marquis of Ravely, Lewis Bussius, Bandineus, Pleuvialius, 
Bern ; us, &c. 

11 



122 fox's book of martyrs. 

The Massacre at Vassy, in Champaigne. 

The duke of Guise, on his arrival at Joinville, asked 
whether the people of Vassy used to have sermoru 
preached constantly by their minister! It was answered, 
they had, and that they increased daily. At the hearing 
of which report, he fell into a violent passion ; and upon 
Saturday, the last day of February, 1562, that he might 
the more covertly execute his conceived wrath against the 
protestants of Vassy, he departed from Joinville, accom- 
panied with the cardinal of Guise, his brother, and those 
of their train, and lodged in the village of Dammartin, 
distant about two miles and a half. 

The next day, after he had heard mass very early in 
the morning, he left Dammartin, with about two hundred 
armed men, passing along to Vassy. As he went by the 
village of Bronzeval, which is distant from Vassy a quar- 
ter of a mile, the bell (after the usual manner) rang for 
sermon. The duke hearing it, asked those he met, why 
the bell rang so loud. A person named La Montague 
told him, it was for the assembling of the Hugonots ; add- 
ing, that there were many in the said Bronzeval who fre- 
quented the sermons preached at Vassy ; therefore, that 
the duke would do well to begin there, and offer them 
violence. But the duke answered, " March on, march on, 
we shall take them among the rest of the assembly." 

Now, there were certain soldiers and archers accom- 
panying the duke, who compassed about Vassy ; most 
of them being lodged in the houses of papists. The 
Saturday before the slaughter, they were seen to make 
ready their weapons, arquebuses, and pistols ; but the 
faithful not dreaming of such a conspiracy, thought the 
duke would offer them no violence, being the king's sub- 
jects ; also, that not above two months before, the duke 
and his brethren passing by the said Vassy, gave no sign 
of their displeasure. 

The duke of Guise being arrived at Vassy with all 
his troops, they went directly toward the common-hall 
or market-house, and then entered into the monastery ; 
where, having called to him one Dessales, the prior of 
Vassy, and another whose name was Claude le Sain, pro- 
vost of Vassy, he talked awhile with them, and issued 



fox's book of martyrs 123 

nastily out of the monastery, attended by many of his fol- 
.owers. Then command was giyen to the papists, to re- 
tire into the monastery, and not to be seen in the streets, 
unless they would venture the loss of their lives. The 
duke perceiving others of his retinue to be walking to and 
fro under the town-hall, and about the churchyard, com- 
manded them to march on toward the place where the 
sermon was, being in a barn, about a hundred paces dis- 
tant from the monastery. This command was put in exe- 
cution by such of the company as went on foot. He that 
marched foremost of this rabble, was La Brosse, and on 
the side of these marched the horsemen, after whom fol- 
lowed the duke with another company of his own follow- 
ers, likewise those of the cardinal of Guise, his brother. 
By this time, Mr. Leonard Morel, the minister, after the 
first prayer, had begun his sermon before his auditors, 
who might amount to about 1200 men, women, and child- 
ren. The horsemen first approaching to the barn within 
about twenty-five paces, shot off two arquebuses right 
upon those who were placed in the galleries joining to the 
windows. The people within, perceiving this, endeavour- 
ed to shut the door, but were prevented by the ruffians 
rushing in upon them, who drawing their swords, furiously 
cried out, " Death of God, kill, kill these Hugonots."' 

Three persons were slain at the door ; and the duke of 
Guise with his company rushed in among the congrega- 
tion, striking the poor people down with their swords, 
daggers and cutlasses, not sparing any age or sex : besides, 
they within were so astonished that they knew not which 
way to turn them, but running hither and thither fell one 
upon another, flying as poor sheep before a company of 
ravening wolves entering in among the flock. Some of 
the murderers shot off their pieces against them that were 
in the galleries ; others cut in pieces such as they lighted 
upon ; some had their heads cleft in twain, their arms and 
hands cut off; so that many of them gave up the ghost 
even in the place. The walls and galleries of the place 
were dyed with the blood of those who were everywhere 
murdered : yea, so great was the fury of the murderers, 
that part of the people within were forced to break open 
the roof of the house, in hopes to save themselves upon 
the top thereof. Being got thither and then fearing to 



124 

fall again into the hands of these cruel tigers, some of them 
eaped over the walls of the city, which were very high, 
(lying into the woods and among the vines, which with 
most expedition they could soonest attain unto ; some hurt 
in their arms, others in their heads, and other parts of 
their bodies. The duke presented himself in the house 
with his sword drawn in his hand, charging his men to kill 
especially the young men. Only, in the end, women with 
child were spared. And pursuing those who went upon 
the house tops, they cried, " Come down, ye dogs, come 
down !" using many cruel threatening speeches to them. 
The cause why women with child escaped, was, as the 
report went, for the dutchess's sake, his wife, who, passing 
along by the walls of the city, and hearing so hideous out- 
cries among these poor creatures, with the noise of the 
pieces and pistols continually discharging, sent in all haste 
to the duke her husband with much entreaties to cease his 
persecution, for frighting women with child. 

During this slaughter, the cardinal of Guise remained 
before the church of Vassy, leaning upon the walls of the 
church yard, looking toward the place where his followers 
•vere busied in killing and slaying all they could. Many 
of this assembly being thus hotly pursued, did in the first 
brunt save themselves upon the roof of the house, not being 
discerned by those who stood without : but at length, some 
of this bloody crew espying where they lay hid, shot at 
them with long pieces, wherewith many of them were hurt 
and slain. The household servants of Dessalles, prior of 
Vassy, shooting at the people on the roof, one of that 
wretched company was not ashamed to boast, after the 
massacre was ended, that he for his part had caused six at 
least to tumble down in that pitiful plight, saying, that if 
others had done the like, not many of them could possibly 
have escaped. 

The minister, in the beginning of the massacre, ceased 
not to preach, till one discharged his piece against the 
pulpit where he stood, after which, falling down upon his 
K.nees, he entreated the Lord not only to have mercy upon 
limself, but also upon his poor persecuted flock. Having 
ended his prayer, he left his gown behind him, thinking 
thereby to keep himself unknown : but while he approach- 
ed toward the door, in his fear he stumbled over a dead 



pox's rook of martyrs. i25 

body, where he received a blow with a sword upon his 
right shoulder. Getting up again, and then thinking to get 
forth, he was immediately laid hold of, and grievously hurl 
on the head with a sword, whereupon being felled to the 
ground, and thinking himself mortally wounded, he cried, 
" Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit, for thou hast 
redeemed me, thou God of truth." While he thus prayed, 
one of this bloody crew ran upon him, with an intent to 
have hamstringed him ; but it pleased God his sword broke 
in the hilt. Two gentlemen knowing him, said, " He is 
the minister, let him be conveyed to my lord duke." 
These leading him away by both the arms, they brought 
him before the gate of the monastery, from whence the 
duke and the cardinal his brother coming forth, said, 
" Come hither ;" and asked him, saying, " Art thou the 
minister of this place 1 Who made thee so bold to seduce 
this people thus V " Sir," said the minister, " I am no 
seducer, for I have preached to them the gospel of Jesus 
Christ." The duke perceiving that this answer condemn- 
ed his cruel outrages, began to curse and swear, saying, 
" Death of God, doth the gospel preach sedition 1 Provost, 
go and let a gibbet be set up, and hang this fellow." At 
which words the minister was delivered into the hands of 
two pages, who misused him vilely. The women of the 
city, being ignorant papists, caught up dirt to throw in his 
face, and with great outcries, said, " Kill him, kill this 
varlet, who hath been the cause of the death of so many." 
In the meantime, the duke went into the barn, to whom 
they presented a great Bible, which they used for the ser- 
vice of God. The duke taking it into his hands, calling 
his brother the cardinal, said, " Lo, here is one of the 
Hugonot books." The cardinal viewing it, said, " There 
is nothing but good in this book, for it is the Bible, to wit, 
the holy scriptures." The duke being offended, that his 
brother suited not to his humour, grew into a greater rage 
than before, saying, " Blood of God, how now ? What ! 
the holy scripture 1 It is one thousand five hundred years 
ago since Jesus Christ suffered his death and passion, and 
it is but a } T ear since these books were printed, how then 
say you that this is the gospel 1 You say you know not 
what." The unbridled fury of the duke displeased the 
cardinal so that he was heard secretly to mutter, " An un- 
worthy brother !" 1* 



fox's book op martyrs. 

This massacre continued a full hour, the duke's trum 
peters sounding the while two several times. When any 
of these desired to have mercy showed them for the love 
of Jesus Christ, the murderers in scorn would say unto 
them, " You use the name of Christ, hut where is youi 
Christ now V 

There died in this massacre, within a few days, three- 
score persons ; besides these, there were about two hun- 
dred and fifty, as well men as women, that were wounded, 
whereof many died. The poor's box, which was fastened 
to the door of the church with two iron hooks, containing 
twelve pounds, was wrested thence, and never restored. 

The minister was closely confined and frequently threat- 
ened to be sewed up in a sack and drowned. He was, 
however, on the 8th of May, 1563, liberated at the earnest 
suit of the prince of Portien. 

Massacre at Angers. 

As soon as the massacre commenced at Paris, a gentle- 
man named Monsoreau obtained ^ passport with letters 
to massacre the protestants at Angers. Being disappoint- 
ed of his prey in one place, he came to the lodging of a 
reverend and learned minister, Mr. John Mason. Meeting 
his wife at the entrance of the house, he saluted her, and 
asked her, " Where her husband was?" She answered 
him, " That he was walking in his garden." 

He immediately went in search of him ; and meeting 
him, embraced him, and said, " Do you know wherefore I 
am come 1 The king hath commanded me to kill you 
forthwith, and hath given me express charge to do it, as 
you shall see by his letters." Upon which he showed 
him a pistol ready charged. Mason replied, " That he 
knew not wherein he had offended the king; but seeing," 
said he, " you seek my life, give me a little time to re- 
commend my spirit into the hands of God." 

Having made a short prayer, he presented his body to 
the murderer, who shot him immediately. His wife wag 
soon after drowned, with nine others ; and six thousand 
were murdered at Rouen in much the same manner. 

The king of France proposed three things to the prince 
of Conde : " Either to go to mass, to die, or else to be 
perpetually imprisoned ; and therefore to weigh well with 






POX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 127 

himself which lie liked best." The prince answered 
" That by God's grace he would never choose the first ; 
as for the latter, he referred himself to the king's plea 
sure." 

About three hundred were barbarously murdered at 
Toulouse, and after taking all their goods, their bodies 
were stripped naked, and exposed to public view for two 
days, and then thrown in heaps into great pits. Cer- 
tain counsellors after they were massacred were hung up 
in their long gowns, upon a great elm which was in the 
court of the palace. 

Siege of Sancerre. 

In 157*3, Sancerre, a city inhabited chiefly by pro- 
testants, and to which many fled from other places for 
refuge, was besieged by the Catholic army. The want of 
provisions was soon felt by the inhabitants, and they were 
compelled to feed on the flesh of horses, asses, &c. At 
length even this failed ; and they were then reduced to 
devour offal and excrements ; and some, less capable of 
resisting the calls of hunger, even had recourse to the hor- 
rible expedient of cannibalism. This outrage on huma- 
nity it was necessary to punish, and accordingly we find 
that on the 29th of July, a man and his wife were exe- 
cuted for having eaten the head, brains, and entrails of a 
child, three years old, which died of hunger; having pre- 
served the other parts to eat at another meal. An old 
woman, who lodged in their house, and had eaten a part, 
died a few hours after her imprisonment. The greater 
part of the children died of famine ; and many affecting 
accounts are given of their patience and fortitude, among 
which the following is worthy of record : 

A boy of ten years old, being ready to yield up the 
ghost, seeing his father and mother weeping over him, said 
unto them, " Wherefore weep ye thus, in seeing me 
famished to death 1 Mother, I ask you no bread, I know 
you have none : but seeing it is God's will I must die this 
death, let us be thankful for it. Did not the holy man 
Lazarus die of famine 1 have I not read it in my Bible V 
In uttering these, with the like speeches, he expired the 
80th of July. 



123 

Not more than eighty-four persons died by the hand uf 
he enemy, but of the famine more than five hundred. 
Many soldiers, in order to avoid the lingering death of hun- 
ger, fled from the city, and chose rather to die by the 
sword of the enemy ; whereof some were imprisoned, and 
others put to death. 

Every hope seemed cut off from them, and death ap 
peared both within and without their walls ; and so far 
was the king of France from relenting at their hapless 
state, that, enraged at their courage, he swore they should 
eat up one another. But the King of kings had ordained 
it otherwise ; for the election of the duke of Anjou to the 
throne of Poland, caused a general pacification, and the 
protestants once more enjoyed liberty of conscience and 
freedom from persecution. 



CHAPTER V. 

Persecutions in France, continued. 

It was observed in the preceding chapter, that the per- 
secution of the protestants was arrested by the election of 
the duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland ; one of the 
conditions of that election being, that the king of France 
should cease to molest his protestant subjects on account 
of their faith. But this state of peace did not continue 
long ; the wars were renewed during the succeeding reigns, 
with various success ; and the history of this period is 
filled with the most horrible relations of battles, sieges, as- 
sassinations, massacres, and treasons. At length, Henry 
III. favouring the protestants, although more from political 
than religious motives, was assassinated by Clement, a 
friar ; and was succeeded by the king of Navarre, under 
the title of Henry IV. 

This prince, after struggling with his numerous enemies 
during several years, found it expedient to declare himself 
a Roman Catholic, and thus to obtain the suffrages of the 
majority of his subjects. This apostacy was a seveie af- 
fliction to the faithful; but, although he abandoned his re- 
ligion, and sacrificed a heavenly for an earthly crown, he 



129 

did not, like many apostates, persecute the members of 
the church which he had quitted. He was, in all other re- 
spects, truly worthy of the appellation of Great ; a title 
so frequently and so unjustly bestowed on men who sacri- 
fice the lives and happiness of their fellow-creatures at 
the shrine of their own vanity and cruelty, and deservt 
rather to be execrated than admired, and regarded as de- 
mons than as demi-gods. 

Upon the restoration of tranquillity in his dominions, 
Henry applied himself to the cultivation of the arts of 
peace, and by encouraging agriculture, manufactures, and 
trade, laboured su:cessfully to recover France from the 
desolation and misery which thiity years of civil war 
and religious persecution had brought upon her. Nor was 
he unmindful of his ancient friends the protestants. By 
the Edict of Nantes, issued in 1598, he granted them a 
full toleration and protection in the exercise of their reli- 
gious opinions. In consequence of this the true church of 
Christ abode in peace during many years, and flourished 
exceedingly. 

Henry was at length assassinated, 1610, by Ravaillac, 
a Jesuit, filled with that frantic bigotry which the Roman 
Catholic religion has so peculiar a tendency to inspire and 
to cherish. 

Louis XIII. being a minor at the death of his father, 
the kingdom was nominally governed by the queen mother, 
but really by her minion, cardinal Richelieu, a man of 
great abilities, which were unhappily perverted to the 
worst purposes. He was cruel, bigoted, tyrannical, rapa- 
cious, and sensual ; he trampled on the civil and religious 
liberties of France : and hesitated not to accomplish his 
intentions by the most barbarous and infamous methods. 

The protestants, at length, unable longer to endure the 
injuries daily heaped upon them, resolved to take arms in 
defence of their religion and their liberty. But the vigour 
of the cardinal defeated all their enterprises, and Rochelle, 
the last fortress which remained in their possession, was, 
in 1628, after a long siege, in which the defenders were re- 
duced to the most horrible extremities of famine and suf- 
fering, surrendered to his victorious arms. He immediately 
caused the walls and fortifications to be destroyed ; and 
those of the garrison who survived, were either put to 



IdO POX 4 S ttOOK OP MAftfYftS. 

death by the infuriated soldiery, or condemned to the 
galleys for life. 

After this unhappy event, although the power of tne 
protestants was too much broken to permit them to assert 
their rights in the field, and they therefore appeared to 
their enemies as if crushed and extinguished, there yet re- 
mained many thousands who " refused to bow the knee to 
Baal ;" their God upheld them by his gracious promises ; 
they knew that He without whose orders, " not even a 
sparrow shall perish," would not allow his faithful servants 
to fall unregarded ; and they consoled themselves with the 
reflection, that however they might be despised, contemn- 
ed, and persecuted on earth, they would in the end arrive 
at those heavenly mansions prepared for them by their Fa- 
ther, where " all tears shall be wiped from all faces ;" and 
where an eternity of glorious and celestial happiness shall 
infinitely outweigh the temporary and trivial sufferings of 
mortality. 

During the fifty years which succeeded the reduction of 
Rochelle, the protestants suffered every indignity, injustice, 
and cruelty, which their barbarous persecutors could de- 
vise. They were at the mercy of every petty despot, 
who, " dressed in a little brief authority," wished to gratify 
his malice, or signalize the season of his power, by punish- 
ing the heretics, and evincing his attachment to the infal- 
lible church. The consequences of this may easily be 
imagined ; every petty vexation which can render private 
life miserable, every species of plunder and extortion, and 
every wanton exertion of arbitrary power, were employed 
to harass and molest the protestants of all ranks, sexes, and 
ages. 

At length, in 1684, the impious and blasphemous tyrant 
Louis XT V., who, in imitation of the worst Roman empe- 
rors, wished to receive divine honours, and was flattered 
by his abject courtiers into the belief that he was more 
than human, determined to establish his claim to the title 
of le grand, which their fulsome adulation had bestowed 
on him by the extirpation of the heretics from his domi- 
nions. Pretending, however, to wish for their conversion 
to the true faith, he gave them the alternative of volun- 
tarily becoming papists, or being compelled to it. 

On their refusal to apostatize, they were dragooned ; 



POX'S BOOK OP MARTYftS. 131 

that is, the dragoons, the most ruffianly and barbarous of 
liis Christian majesty's troops were quartered upon them, 
with orders to live at discretion. Their ideas of discretion 
may easily be conceived, and accordingly the unhappy pro- 
tectants were exposed to every species of suffering which 
lu&t, avaricp, cruelty, bigotry, and brutality can engender 
in tbn breasis of an ignorant, depraved, and infuriated sol- 
diery, absolved from all restraint, and left to the diabolical 
promptings of their worst passions, whose flames were 
fanned oy the assurances of the bishops, priests, and friars, 
that they were fulfilling a sacred duty, by punishing the 
enemies of God and religion ! 

An order was issued by the king, for the demolition of 
the protestant churches, and the banishment of the protest- 
ant ministers. Many other reformers were also ordered 
to leave the kingdom in a few da}'s ; and we are told by 
Monsieur Claude, the celebrated author of " Les Plaintes 
des Proiestans" who was himself banished at this time, 
that the most frivolous pretexts were employed to detain 
those who were about to quit France, so that by remaining 
in that country beyond the time allowed by the edict, they 
might be sent to the galleys as a punishment for infringing 
an order which they were thus prevented from complying 
with. 

On the whole, more than five huudred thousand persons 
escaped or were banished. And these industrious citizens, 
whom the blind bigotry of a besotted tyrant had driven 
from their native land, found shelter and protection in 
England, Germany, and other countries, which they am- 
ply repaid by the introduction of many useful arts and 
processes ; in particular, it is to them that we are indebted 
for the commencement of the silk manufacture in Great 
Britain. 

In the meanwhile those who were either purposely detain- 
ed, or were unable to escape, were condemned to the galleys ; 
and after being imprisoned in the most horrible dungeons, 
and fed only on bread and water, and that very scantily, 
were marched off in large bodies, handcuffed, and chained 
together, from one extremity of the kingdom to another. 
Their sufferings during this dreadful journey were inde- 
scribable. They were exposed to every vicissitude of 
weather, almost without covering ; and frequently, in the 



13* 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



midst of winter, were obliged to pass the nights on tilt 
bare 3arth, fainting from hunger and thirst, agonized by 
disease, and writhing from the lash of their merciless con- 
ductors. The consequence was, that scarcely half the ori- 
ginal number reached their place of destination ; those who 
did were immediately exposed to new sufferings and ad- 
ditional calamities. 

They were put on board the galleys, where they were 
subjected to the absolute control of the most inhuman ana 
barbarous wretches who ever disgraced the human form. 
The labour of rowing, as performed in the galleys, is de- 
scribed as being the most excessive that can be imagined ; 
and the sufferings of the poor slaves were increased a hun- 
dred fold by the scourgings inflicted on them by their 
savage taskmasters. The recital of their miseries is too 
horrible to be dwelt upon : we shall therefore pass to thai 
j>eriod when the Lord, of his infinite mercy, gave ear to 
the cries of his afflicted servants, and graciously raised 
them up a deliverer in Anne, queen of England, who, 
filled with compassion for the unhappy fate of so many of 
her fellow-protestants, ordered her ambassador at the 
court of France to make a spirited remonstrance in their 
favour, which Louis, whose affairs were then in a very 
critical situation, was under the necessity of complying 
with ; and he accordingly despatched orders to all the sea- 
ports for the immediate release of every galley slave con- 
demned for his religion. 

When this order was received at Marseilles, where the 
majority of the protestants were detained, the priests, and 
most particularly the Jesuits, were much chagrined at the 
prospect of thus losing their victims, and determined to 
use all means in their power to prevent the order from be- 
ing carried into effect. They prevailed on the intendant, 
a violent and cruel bigot, to delay its execution for eight 
days, till-they could receive an answer to an address which 
they immediately despatched to the king, exhorting him to 
abandon li is intention of releasing the heretics, and repre- 
senting the dreadful judgments which, they asserted, might 
be expected to fall on himself and his kingdom, as the 
punishment of so great a dereliction from his duty as the 
eldest son of the church. At least, they desired, if his 
majesty were determined to release the protestants, thai 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



133 



he woild not allow them to remain in or even pass 
through France ; hut would compel them to leave their 
ports by sea, and never again to enter his dominions, on 
pain of revisiting the galleys. 

Although Louis could not comply with the first part of 
the petition of these truly Papistical bigots, the latter part 
was too congenial to his own inclinations to be rejected. 
The protestants were ordered to sail from the ports at 
which they had been confined ; and the difficulty of ob- 
taining vessels for their conveyance, which the malignant 
priests used all their arts to augment, occasioned a long 
delay, during which the poor prisoners were suffering all 
the agonies of uncertainty — that " hope deferred, which 
maketh the heart sick," — and which led them to fear that 
something might still intervene to prevent their so much 
desired emancipation. But their heavenly Father, ever 
mindful of those who suffer for his sake, at length removed 
every obstacle which bigotry and malice could interpose, 
and delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. They 
went forth rejoicing, praising and blessing His holy name, 
who had wrought for them this great deliverance. 

A deputation of those who had been released by the in- 
terposition of queen Anne, waited upon her majesty in 
London, to return their most grateful thanks, on behalf of 
themselves and their brethren, for her Christian interfe- 
rence in their favour. She received them very graciously, 
and assured them that she derived more pleasure from the 
consciousness of having lessened the miseries of her fellow- 
protestants, than from the most brilliant events of hei 
reign. 

These exiles also established themselves in England 
which by their industry and ingenuity acquired new riches 
every day, while France, by expelling them, received a 
blow from which her commercial and trading interests 
never recovered. Thus even on earth did the Almighty 
punish the bigoted and cruel, and reward the pious and 
beneficent. But how fearful shall be the judgment of the 
persecutors in that great day when every action shall be 
weighed in the balance of Eternal Justice ! How awful 
the denunciation — " Depart from me, ye cursed ! I know 
you not !" Will the plea of religious zeal be then allow- 

12 



134 

fid? Will not the true motives of their barbarity be ex- 
posed to Him " from whom no secret is hid T' Undoubt- 
edly they will ; and lamentably ignorant are they of the 
genuine spirit of Christianit} r , who imagine that cruelty 
and persecution form any part of it. ^ Let them look to the 
conduct of its Divine Founder ; to his meekness, his cha- 
rity, his universal benevolence ; let them consider these, 
and blush to call themselves his followers, and tremble at 
the doom which his justice will award to those who have 
perverted his maxims of mercy and of peace into denun 
ciations of hostility and extirpation. 

Martyrdom of John Calas, of Toulouse. 

By this interesting story, the truth of which is certified 
in historical records, we have ample proofs, if any were 
lequisite, that the abominable spirit of persecution will 
aiways prevail wherever popery has an ascendency. This 
^nocking act took place in a polished age, and proves that 
neither experience nor improvement can root out the in- 
veterate prejudices of the Roman catholics, or render 
them less cruel or inexorable to the protestants. 

John Calas was a merchant, of the city of Toulouse, 
where he had settled and lived in good repute, and hact 
married an Englishwoman of French extraction. 

Calas and his wife were both protestants, and had five 
sons, whom they educated in the same religion ; but Lewi*. 
one of the sons, became a Roman catholic, having been 
converted by a maid servant who had lived in the family 
above thirty years. The father, however, did not express 
any resentment or ill-will upon the occasion, but kept the 
maid in the family, and settled an annuity upon the son 
In October 1761, the family consisted of John Calas and 
his wife, one woman servant, Mark Anthony Calas, the 
eldest son, and Peter Calas, the second son. Mark An- 
thony was bred to the law, but could not be admitted to 
practice, on. account of his being a protestant : hence lve 
grew melancholy, read all the books which he could pro- 
cure relative to suicide, and seemed determined to destroy 
himself. To this may be added, that he led a very dissi- 
pated life, and was greatly addicted to gaming. On this 



pox's book of MARTYRS. 13.J 

Account his father frequently reprehended him, and some- 
times in terms of severity, which considerably added to 
the gloom that oppressed him. 

M. Gober La Vaisse, a young gentleman about nineteen 
years of age, the son of a celebrated advocate of Toulouse, 
having been some time at Bourdeaux, came back to Tou- 
louse to see his father, on the 13th of October 1761 ; but 
finding that he was gone to his country house, at some dis- 
tance from the city, he went to several places, endeavour- 
ing to hire a horse to carry him thither. No horse, how- 
ever, was to be obtained ; and about five o'clock in the 
evening, he was met by John Calas the father, and the 
eldest son Mark Anthony, who was his friend. Calas, the 
father, invited him to supper, as he could not set out for 
his father's that night, and La Vaisse consented. All 
three, therefore, proceeded to Calas's house together, and 
when they came thither, finding that Mrs. Calas was still 
in her own room, which she had not quitted that day, La 
Vaisse went up to see her. After the first compliments, 
he told her he was to sup with her, by her husband's invi- 
tation, at which she expressed her satisfaction, and a few 
minutes after left him, to give some orders to her maid, 
when that was done, she went to look for her son Anthony, 
whom she found sitting alone in the shop, very pensive : 
she gave him some money, and desired him to go and buy 
some Roquefort cheese, as he was a better judge of the 
quality of cheese than any other person in the family. 
She then returned to her guest La Vaisse, who very soon 
after went again to the livery stable, to see if any horse 
uas come in, that he might secure it for the next morning. 

In a short time Anthony returned, having bought the 
cheese, and La Vaisse also coming back about the same 
time, the family and their guest sat down to supper, the 
whole company consisting of Calas and his wife, Anthony 
and Peter Calas the sons, and La Vaisse, no other person 
being in the house, except the maid-servant, who has been 
mentioned already. This was about seven o'clock : the 
supper was not long; but before it was o\er, Anthony left 
the table and went into the kitchen, (which was on the 
same floor) as he was accustomed to do. The maid 
risked him if he was cold 1 He answered, " Quite the 
contrary, I burn :" and then left her. In the meantime 



156 fox's book of martyrs. 

his friend and family left the room they had supped in, 
and went into a bed-chamber ; the father and La Vaisse 
sat down together on a sofa, the younger son Peter in an 
elbow chair, and the mother in another chair ; and with- 
out making any inquiry after Anthony, continued in con- 
versation together, till between nine and ten o'clock, when 
La Vaisse took his leave, and Peter, who had fallen asleep, 
was awakened to attend him with a light. 

There was on the ground floor of Calas' house a shop 
and warehouse ; the latter of which was divided from the 
shop by a pair of folding-doors. When Peter Calas and 
La Vaisse came down stairs into the shop, they were ex 
tremely shocked to see Anthony hanging in his shirt, from 
a bar which he had laid across the top of the two folding- 
doors, having half opened them for that purpose. On dis- 
covering this horrid spectacle, they shrieked out, which 
brought down Calas the father, the mother being seized 
with such a terror as kept her trembling in the passage 
above. The unhappy old man rushed forward, and taking 
the body in his arms, the bar to which the rope was fast- 
ened, slipped off from the folding-door of the warehouse, 
and fell down. Having placed the body on the ground, he 
loosed and took off the cord in an agony of grief and an- 
guish not to be expressed, weeping, trembling, and de- 
ploring his loss. The two young men, who had not had 
presence of mind to attempt taking down the body, were 
standing by stupid with amazement and horror. In the 
meantime the mother, hearing the confused cries and com- 
plaints of her husband, and finding no one come to her, 
found means to get down stairs. At the bottom she saw 
La Vaisse, and hastily demanded what was the matter 
This question roused Calas in a moment, and instead of 
answering her, he urged her to go again up stairs, to which, 
with much reluctance, she consented ; but the conflict of 
her mind being such as could not be long borne, she sent 
down the maid to know what was the matter. When the 
maid discovered what had happened she continued below, 
either because she feared to carry an account of it to he* 
mistress, or because she busied herself in doing some good 
office to her master, who was still embracing the body of 
his son, and bathing it in his tears. The mother, there- 
fore, being thus left alone, went down and mixed in the 



fox's book of martyrs. 137 

scene that has been already described, with such emotions 
as it must naturally produce. In the meantime Peter had 
been sent ibr La Moire, a surgeon in the neighbourhood. 
La Moire was not at home, but his apprentice, named 
Grosse, came instantly. Upon examination he found the 
body quite dead ; and upon taking off the neckcloth, which 
was of black taffeta, he saw the mark of the cord, and im 
mediately pronounced that the deceased had been strangled. 
This particular had not been told, for the poor old man, 
when Peter was going for La Moire, cried out, " Save at 
least the honour of my family ; do not go and spread a re- 
port that your brother has made away with himself." 

A crowd of people by this time were gathered about the 
house, and one Casing, with another friend or two of tho 
family, had come in. Some of those who were in the 
street had heard the cries and exclamations within, but 
knew not the occasion ; and having by some means heard 
that Anthony Calas was suddenly dead, and that the sur- 
geon who had examined the body, declared he had been 
strangled, they took it into their heads he had been mur- 
dered"; and as the family were protestants, they presently 
supposed that the young man was about to change his re- 
ligion, and had been put to death for that reason. The 
cries they had heard they fancied were those of the de- 
ceased, while he was resisting the violence done to him. 
The tumult in the street increased every moment : some 
said that Anthony Calas was to have abjured the next day ; 
others, that protestants are bound by their religion to 
strangle or cut the throats of their children when they are 
inclined to become catholics. Others who had found out 
that La Yaisse was in the house when the accident hap- 
pened, very confidently affirmed, that the protestants at 
their last assembly, appointed a person to be their com- 
mon executioner upon these occasions, and that La Yaisse 
was the man who, in consequence of the office to which 
he had been appointed, had come to Calas's house to hang 
xs son. 

Now the poor father, who was overwhelmed with grief 
for the loss of his child, was advised by his friends to send 
for the officers of justice to prevent his being torn to pieces 
by the ignorant and bigoted mob. A messenger was accord- 
ingly despatched to the capituol, or first magistrate of the 
12* 



138 fox's bock of martyrs. 

place ; and another to an inferior officer, called an asses 
sor. The capitoul had already set out, having heen alarm 
ed by the rumour of a murder. He entered Calas' house 
with forty soldiers, took the father, Peter the son, the mo- 
ther, La Vasse, and the maid, all into custody, and set a 
guard over them. He sent forM. de la Tour, a physician, 
and M. la Marque and Perronet, surgeons, who examined 
the body for marks of violence, but found none except the 
mark of the ligature on the neck ; they found also the hair 
)f the deceased done up in the usual manner, perfectly 
smooth, and without the least disorder ; his clothes were 
also regularly folded up and laid upon the counter, nor was 
his shirt either unbuttoned or torn. 

The capitoul, notwithstanding these appearances, thought 
proper to agree with the opinion of the mob, and took it 
into his head that old Calas had sent for La Vaisse, telling 
him he had a son to be hanged ; that La Vaisse had come 
to perform the office of executioner ; and that he had re- 
ceived assistance from the father and brother. 

On account of these notions the capitoul ordered the body 
of the deceased to be carried to the town-house, with the 
clothes. The father and son were thrown into a dark dun- 
geon ; and the mother, La Vaisse, the maid, and Casing, 
were imprisoned in one that admitted the light. The next 
day, what is called the verbal process was taken at the 
town-house, instead of the spot where the body was found, 
as the law directs, and was dated at Calas' house to con- 
ceal the irregularity. This verbal process is somewhat 
like the coroner's inquest in England ; witnesses are ex- 
amined, and the magistrate makes his report similar to the 
verdict of a coroner's jury in England. The witnesses 
examined by the capitoul were the physician and surgeon, 
who proved Anthony Calas to have been strangled. The 
surgeon having been ordered to examine the stomach of 
the deceased, deposed also, that the food which was found 
there had been taken four hours before his death. Finding 
that no proof of the murder could be procured, the capitoul 
had recourse to a monitory or general information, in 
which the crime was taken for granted, and all persons 
were required to give such, estimony against it as they 
were able, particularizing the points to which they were to 
speak. This recites, that La Vaisse was commissioned bv 



fox's book of martyrs. 139 

the protestants to be their executioner in ordinary when 
any of their children were to be hanged for changing their 
religion ; it recites also, that when the protestants thus 
hang their children, they compel them to kneel, and one 
of the interrogatories was, whether any person had seen 
Anthony Calas kneel before his father when he strangled 
him; it recites likewise, that Anthony died a Roman Ca- 
tholic, and requires evidence of his Catholicism. 

These ridiculous ooinions being adopted and published 
by the principal magistrate of a considerable city, the 
church of Geneva thougtt itself obliged to send an attest- 
ation of its abhorrence of opinions so abominable and 
absurd, and of its astonishment that they should be sus- 
pected of such opinions by persons whose rank and office 
required them to have more knowledge and better judgment. 

However, before this monitory was published, the mob 
had got a notion that Anthony Calas was the next day 
to have entered into the fraternity of the White Penitents. 
The capitoul immediately adopted this opinion also, 
without the least examination, and ordered Anthony's body 
to be buried in the middle of St. Stephen's church, whicli 
was accordingly done ; forty priests and all the White 
Penitents assisting in the funeral procession. 

A short time after the interment of the deceased, the 
White Penitents performed a solemn service for him in 
their chapel : the church was hung with white, and a tomb 
was raised in the middle of it, on the top of which was 
placed a human skeleton, holding in one hand a paper, 
on which was written, " Abjuration of heresy," and in 
the other a palm, the emblem of martyrdom. 

The Franciscans performed a service of the same kind 
for him the next day ; and it is easy to imagine how 
much the minds of the people were inflamed by this 
strange folly of their magistrates and priests. 

Still the capitoul continued the prosecution with unre- 
lenting severity ; and though the grief and distraction of 
the family, when he first came to the house, were alone 
sufficient to have convinced any reasonable being that 
they were not the authors of the event which they de- 
plored, yet having publicly attested that they were guilty, 
in his monitory, without proof, and no proof coming in, 
he thought fit to condemn the unhappy father, mother,, 



140 pox's book of martyrs. 

brother, friend, and servant., to the torture, and put them 
all into irons, on the 18th of November. Casing was 
released, upon proof that he was not in Calas' house till 
after Anthony was dead. 

From these dreadful proceedings the sufferers appealed 
to the parliament, which immediately took cognizance of 
the affair, and annulled the sentence of the capitoul as ir- 
regular ; but the prosecution still continued. 

As soon as the trial came on, the hangman, who had 
been taken to Galas' house, and shown the folding doors 
and the bar, deposed, that it was impossible Anthony 
should hang himself as was pretended. Another witness 
swore, that he looked through the keyhole of Calas' 
door into a room, where he saw men running hastily to 
and fro. A third swore, that his wife had told him, a 
woman named Maundril had told her, that a certain woman 
unknown had declared she heard the cries of Anthony 
Calas at the further end of the city. 

From this absurd evidence the majority of the parlia- 
ment were of opinion, that the prisoners were guilty, and 
therefore ordered them to be tried by the criminal court 
of Toulouse. 

There was among those who presided at the trial one 
La Borde, who had zealously espoused the popular preju- 
dices ; and though it was manifest to demonstration that 
the prisoners were either all innocent or all guilty, he voted 
that the father should first suffer the torture, ordinary and 
extraordinary, to discover his accomplices, and be then 
broken alive upon the wheel ; to receive the last stroke 
when he had lain two hours, and then to be burnt to ashes. 
In this opinion he had the concurrence of six others ; three 
were for the torture alone ; two were of opinion that they 
should endeaveur to ascertain on the spot whether Anthony 
could hang himself or not ; and one voted to acquit the pri- 
soner. After long debates the majority was for the torture 
and wheel, and probably condemned the father by way of 
experiment, whether he was guilty or not, hoping he 
would, in the agony, confess the crime, and accuse the 
other prisoners, whose fate, therefore, they suspended. It 
is, however, certain, that if they had evidence against the 
father that would hive justified the sentence they pro- 
Dounced against him that very evidence would have justi 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 141 

fed the same sentence against the rest; and that t.iey 
could not justly condemn him alone, they being all in the 
house together when Anthony died. 

However, poor Calas, who was 68 years of age, was 
condemned to this dreadful punishment. He suffered the 
torture with great constancy, and was led to execution in a 
frame of mind which excited respect and admiration. 

Father Bourges and father Coldagues, the two Domini- 
cans who attended him in his last moments, wished their 
latter end might be like his, and declared that they thought 
him not only wholly innocent of the crime laid to his 
charge, but an exemplary instance of true Christian pa- 
tience, charity, and fortitude. 

He gave but one shriek, when he received the first 
stroke ; after which he uttered no complaint. Being at 
length placed on the wheel, to wait for the moment which 
was to end his life and his misery together, he declared 
himself full of an humble hope of a glorious immortality, 
and a compassionate regard for the judges who had con- 
demned him. When he saw the executioner prepared to 
give him the last stroke, he made a fresh declaration of his 
innocence to father Bourges ; but while the words were 
yet in his mouth, the capitoul, the author of this catastro- 
phe, and who came upon the scaffold merely to gratify his 
desire of being a witness of his punishment and death, ran 
up to him, and bawled out, " Wretch, there are the fagots 
which, are to reduce your body to ashes ; speak the truth." 
M. Calas made no reply, but turned his head a little aside, 
and that moment the executioner did his office. 

Donat Calas, a boy of fifteen years of age, the youngest 
son of the unfortunate victim, was apprentice to a mer- 
chant at Nismes. when he heard of the dreadful punish- 
ment by which seven prejudiced judges of Toulouse had 
put his worthy father to death. 

So violent was the popular outcry against this family in 
Languedoc, that every body expected to see the children 
of Calas broke upon the wheel, and the mother burnt alive. 
So weak had been the defence made by this innocent 
family, oppressed by misfortunes, and terrified at the sight 
of lighted piles, racks, and wheels. Young Donat Calas 
dreading to share the fate of the rest of his family, was 
advised to fly into Switzerland. He did so, and there found 



142 Fox's BOOK ofl Sf.UlTVftSi 

a gentleman, who, at first, couid only pity and relieve liirn 
without daring to judge of the rigour exercised against his 
father, mother, and brothers. Shortly after, one of the 
brothers, who was only banished, likewise threw himself 
into the arms of the same person, who, for more than a 
month, took all possible means to be assured of the inno- 
cence of this family. But when he was once convinced, 
he thought himself obliged in conscience to employ his 
friends, his purse, his pen, and his credit, to repair the 
fatal mistake of the seven judges of Toulouse, and to have 
the proceedings revised by the king's counsel. This re- 
vision lasted three years, and at the end of that time, fifty 
masters of the Court of Hequests unanimously declared 
the whole family of Calas innocent, and recommended 
them to the benevolent justice of his majesty. The duke 
de Choiseul, who never let slip an opportunity of signali- 
zing the greatness of his character, not only assisted this 
unfortunate family with money from his own purse, but ob- 
tained for them a gratuity of 36,000 livres from the king. 
The arret which justified the family of Calas, and 
changed their fate, was signed on the 9th of March, 1765. 
The 9th of March, 1762, was the very day on which the 
innocent and virtuous father of that family had been exe- 
cuted. All Paris ran in crowds to see them come out of 
prison, and clapped their hands for joy, while the tears 
streamed down their cheeks. 



PART IV 



CHAPTER I. 

Origin, Progress, and Cruelties of the Inquisition 



History of the Inquisition, 

When the reformed religion began to diffuse the pir*e 
ight of the gospel throughout Europe, the bigoted Romsi? 



(••(Ix's HOOK Ot M..U-I VitS. 



US 



Catholics fearing the exposure of the frauds and abuses of 
iheir church, determined to leave nothing unattempted to 
crush the Reformation in its infancy ; pope Innocent III. 
therefore instituted a number of inquisitors, or persons 
who were to make inquiry after, apprehend, and punish 
the professors of the reformed faith. At the head of these 
inquisitors was one Dominic, who was canonized by the 
pope, in order to render his authority the more respectable. 
He and the other inquisitors visited the various Roman Ca- 
tholic countries, and treated the protestants with the utmost 
severity : but at length the pope not finding them so use- 
ful as he had expected, resolved upon the establishment of 
fixed and regular courts of inquisition ; the first office of 
vvhich was established in the city of Toulouse, and Domi- 
nic became the first inquisitor. 




Cruelties of t/ie Inquisition. 

Courts of inquisition were also erected in several other 
countries ; but the Spanish inquisition became the mos 
Dowerful and the most dreadful of any. Even the kings 
of Spain themselves, though arbitrary in all other respects, 
were taught to dread its power ; and the horrid cruelties 
exercised by the inquisition, compelled multitudes, who 
differed in opinion from the catholics, carefully to conceal 
their sentiments. The Dominicans and Franciscans were 



144 

the most zealous of all the monks : these, therefore, the 
pope inv3sted with an exclusive right of presiding over and 
managing the different courts of inquisition. 'The friars 
of those two orders were always selected from the very 
dregs of the people, and therefore were not much troubled 
with scruples of conscience ; they were obliged by the 
rules of their respective orders to lead very austere lives, 
which rendered their manners unsocial, and better qualified 
them for their barbarous employment. 

The pope gave the inquisitors the most unlimited powers 
as judges delegated by him, and immediately representing 
his person : they were permitted to excommunicate, or 
sentence to death whom the}- thought proper, upon the 
slightest information of heresy ; were allowed to publish 
crusades against all whom they deemed heretics, and enter 
into leagues with sovereign princes to join those crusades 
with their forces. About the year 1244, their power was 
further increased by the emperor Frederic II., who de- 
clared himself the protector and friend of all inquisitors, 
and published two cruel edicts, viz. : that all heretics who 
continued obstinate should be burnt ; and that all who re- 
pented should be imprisoned for life. This zeal in the em- 
peror for the inquisitors and the Roman Catholic persua- 
sion, arose from a report which had been propagated 
throughout Europe, that lie intended to turn Mahometan ; 
the emperor therefore judiciously determined by the height 
of bigotry and cruelty, to show his attachment to popery. 

The officers of the inquisition are three inquisitors', or 
judges, a proctor fiscal, two secretaries, a magistrate, a 
messenger, a receiver, a gaoler, an agent of confiscated 
possessions, and several assessors, counsellors, execution- 
ers, physicians, surgeons, door-keepers, familiars, and vi- 
siters, who are all sworn to profound secrecy. The chiel 
accusation against those who are subject to this tribunal is 
heresy, which comprises all that is spoken or written 
against any of the articles of the creed, or the traditions 
of the Romish church. The other articles of accusation 
are renouncing the Roman catholic persuasion, and be- 
lieving that persons of any other religion may be saved, or 
even admitting that the tenets of any but papists are in 
the least reasonable. There are two other things which 
ncur the most severe punishments, viz. : to disappro T e of 



145 

any action done by the inquisition, or disbelieve any thing 
said by an inquisitor. 

Heresy comprises many subdivisions ; and upon a sus- 
picion of any of these the party is immediately appre- 
hended. Advancing an offensive proposition ; failing to 
impeach others who may advance such ; contemning 
church ceremonies ; defacing idols ; reading books con- 
demned by the inquisition : lending such books to others 
to read ; deviating from the ordinary practices of the Ro- 
mish church ; letting *i year pass without going to confes- 
sion ; eating meat on fast-days ; neglecting mass ; being 
present at a sermon pi eached by a heretic ; not appearing 
when summoned by ihe inquisition; lodging in the house 
of, contracting a friendship with, or making a present to a 
heretic ; assisting a heietic to escape from confinement, 
or visiting one in confinement, are all matters of suspicion, 
and prosecuted accordingly. All Roman catholics are 
commanded under pain of excommunication to give im- 
mediate information even of their nearest and dearest 
friends, if they judge them to be heretics, or inclining to 
heresy. All who give the least assistance to protestants are 
called fautors, or abettors of heresy, and the accusations 
against these are for comforting such as the inquisition 
have begun to prosecute ; assisting, or not informing against 
such if they should happen to escape ; concealing, abet- 
ting, advising, or furnishing heretics with money ; visiting, 
or writing to, or sending them subsistence ; secreting or 
burning books and papers which might serve to convict 
them. The inquisition also takes cognizance of such as 
are accused of being magicians, witches, blasphemers, 
soothsayers, wizards, common swearers ; and of such who 
read or even possess the Bible in the vulgar tongues, the 
Talmud of the Jews, or the Alcoran of the Mahometans. 

Upon all occasions the inquisitors carry on their pro- 
cesses with the utmost severity. They seldom show mercy 
to a protestant ; and a Jew who turns Christian is far from 
being secure ; for if he is known to keep company with 
another new converted Jew, a suspicion arises that they 
privately practice together some Jewish ceremonies ; if he 
keep company with a person who was lately a protestant, 
but now professes popery, they are accused of plotting to- 
gether; but if he associate with a Roman catholic, an ac 
13 



146 FOX*S BOOK. OF MARTYRS. 

cusafcion is often laid against him for only pretending to be 
a papist, and the consequence is a confiscation of his ef- 
fects, and the loss of his life if he complain. 

A defence is of little use to the prisoner ; for a suspicion 
only is deemed sufficient cause of condemnation, and the 
greater his wealth the greater his danger. Most of the in- 
quisitors' cruelties are owing to their rapacity : they de- 
stroy life to possess the property ; and under pretence of 
zeal, plunder individuals of their rights. A prisoner of 
the inquisitors is never allowed to see the face of his ac- 
cuser, or any of the witnesses against him, but every me- 
thod is taken by threats and tortures to oblige him to accuse 
himself. If the jurisdiction of the inquisition be not fully 
allowed, vengeance is denounced against such as call it in 
question ; or if any of its officers are opposed, those who 
oppose them are almost certain to be sufferers for their te 
merity ; the maxim of the inquisition being to strike terror, 
and awe those who are the objects of its power into obe- 
dience. High birth, distinguished rank, or eminent 
employments are no protection from its severeties ; 
and its lowest officers can make the most exalted nobleman 
tremble at their authority. 

Such are the circumstances which subject a person to 
the rage of the inquisition ; and the modes of beginning 
the process are, 1. to proceed by imputation, or prose- 
cute on common report ; 2. by the information of any 
indifferent person who chooses to impeach another ; 3. on 
the information of spies who are retained by the inquisi- 
tion ; and, 4. on the confession of the prisoner himself. 

The inquisitors never forget or forgive ; length of 
time cannot efface their resentments ; nor can the hum- 
blest concessions or most liberal presents obtain a pardon : 
they carry the desire of revenge to the grave, and wish to 
nave both the property and lives of those who have offend- 
ed them. Hence, when a person once accused to the in- 
quisition, after escaping, is retaken, pardon is next to an 
impossibility. If a positive accusation be given, the in- 
quisitors direct an order to the executioner, who takes a 
certain number of familiars with him to assist in the exe- 
cution. Father, son, brother, sister, husband or wife, 
must quietly submit ; none dare resist or even speak ; as 
either would subject them to the same punishment as th 



fox's hook op martyrs. 147 

devoted victim. No respite is allowed, but the prison^ I 's 
instantaneously hurried away. 

This dreadful engine of tyranny may at any time be in 
produced into a country where the catholics have the upper 
band ; and hence, how careful ought we to be, who are not 
cursed with such an arbitrary court, to prevent its intro- 
duction ■ In treating of this subject, an elegant author 
pathetically says, " How horrid a scene of perfidy and in- 
humanity ? What kind of community must that be whence 
gratitude, love, and mutual forbearance with regard to hu- 
man frailties are banished ! What must that tribunal be 
which obliges parents not only to erase from their minds 
the remembrance of their own children, to extinguish all 
those keen sensations of tenderness and affection where- 
with nature inspires them, but even to extend their inhu- 
manity so far as to force them to commence their accusers, 
and consequently to become the cause of the cruelties in- 
flicted upon them ! What ideas ought we to form to our- 
selves of a tribunal which obliges children not only to stifle 
every soft impulse of gratitude, love, and respect, due to 
those who gave them birth, but even forces them, and that 
under the most rigorous penalties, to be spies over their 
parents, and to discover to a set of merciless inquisitors 
the crimes, the errors, and even the little lapses to which 
they are exposed by human frailty! In a word, a tribunal 
which will not permit relations, when imprisoned in its 
horrid dungeons, to give each other the succours, or per- 
form the duties which religion enjoins, must be of an in- 
fernal nature. What disorder and confusion must such 
conduct give rise to in a tenderly affectionate family ! An 
expression innocent in itself, and, perhaps, but too true, 
shall, from an indiscreet zeal or a panic of fear, give in- 
finite uneasiness to a family ; shall ruin its peace entirely, 
and perhaps cause one or more of its members to be the 
unhappy victims of the most barbarous of all tribunals. 
What distractions must necessarily break forth in a house 
where the husband and wife are at variance, or the child- 
ren loose and wicked ! Will such children scruple to sa- 
crifice a father who endeavours to restrain them by his ex- 
hortations, by reproofs, or paternal corrections ? Will they 
not rather, after plundering his house to support their ex- 
travagance and riot, readily deliver up their unhappy pa- 



148 fox's book of martyrs. 

rent to all the horrors of a tribunal founded on the blackesi 
injustice ? A riotous husband, or a loose wife, has an easy 
opportunity, assisted b}' means of the persecution in ques- 
tion, to rid themselves of one who is a check to their vices, 
by delivering him or her up to the rigours of the inqui- 
sition." 

When the inquisitors have taken umbrage against an in- 
nocent person, all expedients are used to facilitate his con- 
demnation ; false oaths and testimonies are employed to 
prove the accused to be guilty ; and all laws and institu- 
tions are sacrificed to the bigoted revenge of papacy. 

When a person accused is taken, his treatment is deplo- 
rable. The gaolers first begin by searching him for books 
and papers which might tend to his conviction, or for in- 
struments which might be employed in self-murder or 
escape, and on this pretext they even rob him of his wear- 
ing apparel. When he has been searched and robbed, he- 
is committed to prison. Innocence on such an occasion is 
a weak reed ; nothing being easier than to ruin an inno- 
cent person. 

The mildest sentence is imprisonment for life ; yet the 
inquisitors proceed by degrees at once subtle, slow, and 
cruel. The gaoler first of all insinuates himself into the 
prisoner's favour, by pretending to wish him well and ad- 
vise him well ; and among other pretended kind hints, tells 
him to petition for an audit. When he is brought before 
the consistory, the first demand is, " What is your re- 
quest ?" To this the prisoner very naturally answers, that 
he would have a hearing. Hereupon one of the inquisitors 
replies, " Your hearing is this; confess the truth, conceal 
nothing, and rely on our mercy." Now, if the prisoner 
make a confession of any trifling affair, they immediately 
found an indictment on it ; if he is mute they shut him up 
without light, or any food but a scanty allowance of bread 
ind water, till his obstinacy is overcome; and if he declare 
fie is innocent, they torment him till he either die with the 
pain or confess himself guilty. 

On the re-examination of such as confess, they con- 
tinually say, " You have not been sincere, you tell not all ; 
you keep many things concealed, and therefore must be 
remanded to your dungeon." When those who have stood 
mute are called for re-examination, if they continue silent 



FOX S HOOK OF MAUTARS. 149 

such tortures are ordered as will either make them speak, 
or kill them ; and when those who proclaim their inno- 
cence are re-examined, a crucifix is held hefore them, and 
they are solemnly exhorted to take an oath of their confes- 
sion of faith. This brings them to the test ; they must 
either swear they are Roman catholics, or acknowledge 
they are not. If they acknowledge the) are not they are 
proceeded against as heretics. If they acknowledge they 
are Roman catholics, a string of accusations is brojghi 
against them, to which they are obliged to answer extern- . 
pore : no time being given even to arrange their answers. 
On having verbally answered, pen, ink, and paper are 
given them, in order to produce a written answer, which 
must in every degree coincide with the verbal answer. If 
the verbal and written answers differ, the prisoners are 
charged with prevarication ; if one contain more than the 
other, they are accused of wishing to conceal certain cir- 
cumstances ; if they both agree they are charged with pre- 
meditated artifice. 

After a person impeached is condemned, he is either 
severely whipped, violently tortured, sent to the galleys, or 
sentenced to death ; and in either case his effects are con- 
fiscated. After judgment a procession is performed to the 
place of execution, which ceremony is called an Auto da 
F£, or Act of Faith. 

Auto da Fi at Madrid. 

The following is an account of an Auto da F6 at Ma- 
drid, in the year 1682. 

The officers of the inquisition, preceded by trumpets, 
kettle-drums, and their banner, marched on the 30th of 
May, in cavalcade, to the palace of the great square, where 
they declared by proclamation, that on the 30th of June 
the sentence of the prisoners would be put in execution 
There had not been a spectacle of this kind at Madrid for 
several years, for which reason it was expected by the in- 
habitants with as much impatience as a day of the great- 
est festivity and triumph. 

When the day arrived, a prodigious number of people 
appeared, dressed as splendidly as their circumstances 
would allow. In the great square was raised a high scaf- 
13* 



150 fox's book of martyrs. 

fold : and thither, from seven in the morning till the even- 
•ng, were brought criminals of both sexes, all the inquisi 
tions in the kingdom sending their prisoners to Madrid, 
Twenty men and women of these prisoners, with one re- 
negado Mahometan, were ordered to be burned ; fifty Jews 
and Jewesses, having never before been imprisoned, and 
repenting of their crimes, were sentenced to a long con 
fmement, and to wear a yellow cap ; and ten others in 
dieted for bigamy, witchcraft, and other crimes, were sen 
tenced to be whipped, and then sent to the galleys ; thes 
last wore large pasteboard caps, with inscriptions on them 
having a halter about their necks, and torches in their 
hands. 

On this solemn occasion the whole court of Spain was 
present. The grand inquisitor's chair was placed in a 
sort of tribunal far above that of the king. The nobles 
here acted the part of the sheriffs officers in England, 
leading such criminals as were to be burned, and holding 
them when fast bound with thick cords ; the rest of the 
criminals were conducted by the familiars of the inqui- 
sition. 

Among those who were to suffer was a young Jewess of 
exquisite beauty, only seventeen years of age. Being on 
the same side of the scaffold where the queen was seated, 
she addressed her, in hopes of obtaining a pardon, in the 
following pathetic speech : " Great queen ! will not your 
royal presence be of some service to me in my miserable 
condition ? Have regard to my youth; and, oh ! consider 
that I am about to die for professing a religion imbibed 
from my earliest infancy !" Her majesty seemed greatly 
to pity her distress, but turned away her eyes, as she did 
not dare to speak a word in behalf of a person who had 
been declared a heretic by the inquisition. 

Mass now began, in the midst of which the priest came 
from the altar placed near the scaffold, and seated himself 
in a chair prepared for that purpose. Then the chief in- 
quisitor descended from the amphitheatre, dressed in his 
cope, and having a mitre on his head. After bowing to 
the altar he advanced toward the king's balcony, and went 
up to it, attended by some of his officers, carrying a cross 
and the gospels, with a book containing the oatli by which 
th© kings of Spain oblige themselves to protect the catho- 



pox's book op martyrs. 151 

lie faith> to extirpate heretics, and support with aJl their 
power the prosecutions and decrees of the inquisition. On 
the approach of the inquisitor, and on his presenting this 
book to the king, his majesty rose up, bareheaded, and 
swore to maintain the oath, which was read to him by one 
of his counsellors : after which the king continued stand- 
ing till the inquisitor had returned to his place ; when the 
secretary of the holy office mounted a sort of pulpit, and 
administered a like oath to the counsellors and the whole 
assembly. The mass was begun about twelve at noon, and 
did not end till nine in the evening, being protracted by a 
proclamation of the sentences of the several criminals, 
which were all separately rehearsed aloud one after 
another. Next followed the burning of the twenty-one 
men and women, whose intrepidity in suffering that horrid 
death was truly astonishing : some thrust their hands and 
feet into the flames with the most dauntless fortitude, and 
all of them yielded to their fate with such resolution that 
many of the amazed spectators lamented that such heroic 
souls had not been more enlightened I The situation rf 
the king was so near to the criminals, that their dyi lg 
groans were very audible to him : he could not, howevi r, 
be absent from this dreadful scene, as it is esteemed a r !- 
ligious one ; and his coronation oath obliges him to give a 
sanction by his presence to all the acts of the tribunal. 

Inquisition of Portugal. 

The inquisition of Portugal is exactly upon a similar 
plan to that of Spain, having been instituted about the 
same time, and put under the same regulations, and the 
proceedings nearly resemble each other. The house, or 
rather palace, of the inquisition is a noble edifice. It con- 
tains four courts, each about forty feet square, round which 
are about three hundred dungeons or cells. The dungeons 
on the ground floor are for the lowest class of prisoners, 
and those on the second floor are for persons of superior 
rank. The galleries are built of freestone, and hid from 
view both within and without by a double wall of about 
fifty feet high. So extensive is the whole prison, and it 
contains so many turnings and windings, that none but 
those well acquainted ^rith it can find the way through its 



152 fox's book of martyrs. 

various avenues. The apartments of the chief inquisitor 
are spacious and elegant ; the entrance is through a large 
gate, which leads into a court-yard, round which are seve- 
ral chambers, and some large saloons for the king, royal 
family, and the rest of the court to stand and observe the 
executions during an Auto da Fe. 

A testoon (sevenpence half-penny English money) is 
allowed every prisoner daily ; and the principal gaoler, 
accompanied by two other officers, monthly visits every 
prisoner to inquire how he would have his allowance laid 
out. This visit, however, is only a matter of form, for the 
gaoler usually lays out the money as he pleases, and com- 
monly allows the prisoner daily a porringer of broth, half 
a pound of beef, a small piece of bread, and a trifling por- 
tion of cheese. 

Sentinels walk about continually to listen ; if the least 
noise is heard, they call to and threaten the prisoner ; if 
the noise is repeated, a severe beating ensues. The fol- 
lowing is a fact : a prisoner having a violent cough, one of 
the guards came and ordered him not to make a noise ; to 
which he replied that it was not in his power to forbear. 
The cough increasing, the guard went into the cell, stripped 
the poor creature naked, and beat him so unmercifully 
that he soon after died. 

Sometimes a prisoner passes months without knowing 
of what he is accused, or having the least idea when he is 
to be tried. The gaoler at length informs him, that he 
must petition for a trial. This ceremony being gone 
through, he is taken for examination. When they come to 
the door of the tribunal, the gaoler knocks three times, to 
give the judges notice of their approach. A bell is rung 
by one of the judges, when an attendant opens the door, 
admits the prisoner, and seats him on a stool. 

The prisoner is then ordered by the president to kneel 
down, and lay his right hand upon a book, which is pre- 
sented to him close shut. This being complied with, the 
following question is put to him : " Will you promise to 
conceal the secrets of the holy office, and to speak the 
truth ?" Should he answer in the negative, he is remand- 
ed to his cell, and cruelly treated. If he answer in the 
affirmative, he is ordered to be again seated, and the ex- 
amination proceeds ; when the president asks a variety oi 



fox's book of martyrs. 153 

questions, and the clerk minutes both thorn and the an- 
swers. 

When the examination is closed, the bell is again rung, 
the gaoler appears, and the prisoner is ordered to with- 
draw, with this exhortation : " Tax your memory, recollect 
all the sins you have ever committed, and when you are 
again brought here, communicate them to the holy office." 
The gaolers and attendants, when apprized that the pri- 
soner has made an ingenuous confession, and readily an- 
swered every question, make him a low bow, and treat 
him with an affected kindness, as a reward for jis candour. 

He is brought in a few days to a second examination, 
with the same formalities as before. The inquisitors often 
deceive prisoners by promising the greatest lenity, and 
even to restore their liberty, if they will accuse themselves : 
the unhappy persons, who are in their power, frequently 
fall into this snare, and are sacrificed to their own simpli- 
city. Instances have occurred of some, who, relying on 
the faith of the judges, have accused themselves of what 
they were totally innocent of, in expectation of obtaining 
their liberty, and thus became martyrs to their own folly. 

There is another artifice made use of by the inquisitors : 
if a prisoner has too much resolution to accuse himself, 
and too much sense to be ensnared by their sophistry, they 
proceed thus : a copy of an indictment against the prisoner 
is given him, in which, among many trivial accusations, 
he is charged with the most enormous crimes of which hu- 
man nature is capable. This rouses his temper, and he 
exclaims against such falsehoods. He is then asked which 
of the crimes he can deny. Pie naturally mentions the 
most atrocious, and begins to express his abhorrence of 
them, when the indictment being snatched out of his hand, 
the president says, " By your denying only those crimes 
which you mention, you implicitly confess the rest, and wo 
shall therefore proceed accordingly." Sometimes they 
make a ridiculous affectation of equity, by pretending that 
the prisoner may be indulged with a counsellor if he 
chooses to demand one. Such a request is sometimes 
made and a counsellor appointed ; but upon these occa- 
sions, as the trial itself is a mockery of justice, so the 
counsellor is a mere cypher ; for he is not permitted to say 



t54 

any thing that might offend the inquisition, or to advance 8 
syllable that might benefit the prisoner. 

Though the inquisitors allow the torture to be used only 
three times, yet at those three it is so severely inflicted 
that the prisoner either dies under it, or continues always 
after a cripple. The following is a description of the se- 
vere torments occasioned by the torture, from the account 
of one who suffered it the three respective times, but 
happily survived its cruelties. 

The prisoner, on refusing to comply with the iniquitous 
demands of the inquisitors, by confessing all the crimes 
they charged him with, was immediately conveyed to the 
torture-room, which, to prevent the cries of the sufferers 
from being heard by the other prisoners, is lined with a 
kind of quilting which covers all the crevices and deadens 
the sound. The prisoner's horror 'vas extreme on enter- 
ing this infernal place, when suddenly he was surrounded 
by six wretches, who after preparing the tortures, stripped 
him naked to his drawers. He was then laid upon his 
back on a kind of stand, elevated a few feet from the 
door. They began by putting an iron collar round his neck, 
and a ring to each foot, which fastened him to the stand. 
His limbs being thus stretched out, they wound two ropes 
round each arm, and two round each thigh, which ropes 
being passed under the scaffold, through holes made for 
that purpose, were all drawn tight at the same instant of 
time by four of the men, on a given signal. The pains 
which immediately succeeded were intolerable ; the ropes, 
which were of the small size, cut through the prisoner's 
flesh to the bone, making the blood gush out at eight dif- 
ferent places. As he persisted in not making any confes- 
sion of what the inquisitors required, the ropes were drawn 
in this manner four times successively. 

A physician and a surgeon attended, and often felt his 
emples, in order to judge of the danger he might be in ; 
by which means his tortures were for a small time suspend- 
ed, that he might have sufficient opportunity of recovering 
his spirits to sustain each ensuing torture. During this ex- 
tremity of anguish, while the tender frame is being torn, 
as it were, in pieces, while at every pore it feels the sharp 
est pangs of death, and the agonized soul is just ready to 



FOX*S HOOK OF MARTYRS. 155 

burst forth and quit its wretched mansion, the ministers of 
the inquisition have the obduracy to look on without emo- 
tion, and calmly to advise the poor distracted creature to 
confess his imputed guilt, on doing which they tell him he 
may obtain a free pardon, and receive absolution. All 
this, however, was ineffectual with the prisoner, whose 
mind was strengthened by a sweet consciousness of inno- 
cence and the divine consolation of religion. 

While he was thus suffering, the physician and surgeon 
were so barbarous as to declare that if he died under the 
torture he would he guilty by his obstinacy of self-murder. 
In short, at the last time of the ropes being drawn tight, 
he grew so exceedingly weak by the stoppage of the cir- 
culation of his blood, and the pains he endured, that he 
fainted away, upon which he was unloosed and carried 
back to his dungeon. 

These inhuman wretches finding that the torture inflict- 
ed, as above described, instead of extorting a discoverv 
from the prisoner, only served the more frequently t" 
cite his supplication to Heaven for patience and powc 
persevere in truth and integrity, were so barbarous, in six 
weeks after, as to expose him to another kind of torture 
more severe if possible than the former ; the manner of 
inflicting which was as follows : they forced his arms back- 
wards, so that the palms of his hands were turned outward 
behind him ; when by means of a rope that fastened them 
together at the wrist, and which was turned by an engine, 
they drew them by degrees nearer each other, in such a 
manner that the back of each hand touched and stood ex- 
actly parallel to each other. In consequence of this vio- 
lent contortion both his shoulders were dislocated, and a 
considerable quantity of blood issued from his mouth. 
This torture was repeated thrice ; after which he was again 
taken to the dungeon and delivered to the physician and 
surgeon, who, in setting the dislocated bones, put him to 
the most exquisite torment. 

About two months after the second torture, the prisoner 
being a little recovered, was again ordered to the torture- 
room, and there made to undergo another kind of punish- 
ment. The executioners fastened a thick iron chain twice 
round his body, which crossing upon his stomach, termi- 
nated at the wrists. They then placed him with his back 



156 

against a thick board, at each extremity whereof was a 
pulley, through which there ran a rope that caught the 
ends of the chain at his wrists. Then the executioner 
stretching the end of this rope, by means of a roller placed 
at a distance behind him, pressed or bruised his stomach in 
proportion as the ends of the chain were drawn tighter 
They tortured him in this manner to such a degree that his 
wrists as well as his shoulders were quite dislocated. They 
were however soon set by the surgeons ; but the barbarians 
not yet satisfied with this infernal cruelty, made him im- 
mediately undergo the like torture a second time, which he 
sustained, (though, if possible, attended with keener pains,) 
with equal constancy and resolution. He was then again 
remanded to his dungeon, attended by the surgeon to dress 
his bruises and adjust the parts dislocated ; and here he 
continued till their Auto da Fe, or gaol delivery, when he 
was happily discharged. 

It may be judged, from the before mentioned relation, 
' A r dreadful agony the sufferer must have endured. Most 
Tbs were disjointed ; so much was he bruised and 
r " as to be unable for some weeks to lift his hand to 

his mouth, and his body became greatly swelled from the 
inflammation caused by such frequent dislocations. After 
his discharge he felt the effects of this cruelty for the re- 
mainder of his life, being frequently seized with thrilling 
and excruciating pains to which he had never been subject 
till after he had the misfortune to fall into the power of the 
merciless and bloody inquisition. 

The unhappy females who fall into their hands have not 
the least favour shown them on account of the softness of 
their sex, but are tortured with as much severity as the 
male prisoners, with the additional mortification of having 
the most shocking indecencies added to the most savage 
barbarities. 

Should the above mentioned modes of torturing force a 
confession from the prisoner, he is remanded to his horrid 
dungeon, and left a prey to the melancholy of his situa- 
tion, to the anguish arising from what he has suffered, and 
to the dreadful idea of future barbarities. Should he re- 
fuse to confess, he is in the same manner remanded to his 
dungeon, and stratagem is used to draw from him what 
*he torture fails to do. A companion is allowed to attend 



Pox's noon op MAivtYh 157 

him, under the pretence of waiting upon and comforting 
his mind till his wounds are healed ; this person, who is 
always selected for his cunning, insinuates himself into the 
good graces of the prisoner, laments the anguish he feels, 
sympathizes with him, and taking an advantage of the 
hasty expressions forced from him by pain, does all he can 
to dive into his secrets. This companion sometimes pre- 
tends to be a prisoner like himself, and imprisoned on 
similar charges. This is to draw the unhapp) person into 
a mutual confidence, and persuade him in unbosoming his 
grief to betray his private sentiments. 

Frequently these snares succeed, as they are the more 
alluring by being glossed over with the appearance of friend- 
ship and sympathy. Finally, if the prisoner cannot be 
found guilty, he is either tortured or harassed to death, 
though a few have sometimes had the gcud fortune to be 
discharged, but not without having suffered the most dread- 
fu« cruelties. 

The inquisition also takes cognizance of all new books; 
and tolerates or condemns with the same justice and im- 
partiality by which all its proceedings are distinguished. 

When a book is published it is carefully read by some of 
the familiars ; who, too ignorant and bigoted to distinguish 
truth, and too malicious to relish beauties, search not for 
the merits but for the defects of an author, and pursue the 
slips of his pen with unremitting diligence. They read 
with prejudice, judge with partiality, pursue errors with 
avidity, and strain that which is innocent into an offensive 
meaning. They misapply, confound, and pervert the 
sense ; and when they have gratified the malignity of their 
disposition, charge their blunders upon the author, that a 
prosecution may be founded upon their false conceptions 
and designed misinterpretations. 

Any trivial charge causes the censure of a book ; but it 
s to be observed that the censure is of a three-fold na- 
ture, viz. : 

1. When the book is wholly condemned. 

2. When it is partly condemned ; that is, when certain 
oassages are pointed out as exceptionable, and ordered to 
oe expunged. 

3. When it is deemed incorrect ; the meaning of which 
s, that a few words or expressions displease the inquisitors. 

14 



158 

These, therefore are ordered to be altered, and such alter 
ations go under the name of corrections. 

There is a catalogue of condemned books annually pub* 
lished, under the three different heads of censures already 
mentioned, which being printed on a large sheet of paper, 
is hung up in the most public and conspicuous places. 
After which people are obliged to destroy all such books 
as come under the first censure, and to keep none belong- 
ing to the other two censures, unless the exceptionable pas- 
sages have been expunged, and the corrections made, as in 
either case disobedience would be of the most fatal con- 
sequence ; for the possessing or reading the proscribed 
books are deemed very atrocious crimes. 

The publisher of such books is usually ruined in his cir- 
cumstances, and sometimes obliged to pass the remainder 
of his life in the inquisition. 

Where such an absurd and detestable system exercises 
its deadening influence over the literature of a nation, can 
we be surprised that the grossest ignorance and the most 
bigoted superstition prevail 1 How can that people be- 
come enlightened among whom the finest productions of 
genius are prohibited, all discussion prevented, the most 
innocent inquiries liable to misconstruction and punish- 
ment, the materials for thinking proscribed, and even 
thought itself chained down and checked by the fear of its 
escaping into expression, and thus bringing certain and 
cruel punishment on him who has dared to exercise his 
reason, the noblest gift of his Almighty Creator ? Surely 
ever} well wisher to the human race must rejoice in the 
downfall of this most barbarous and infernal of all tribu- 
nals ; and must view with indignation and abhorrence the 
iniquitous attempts now making to re-establish it in those 
esha — V countries which so long grouped under its sway 



POX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. \$y\f 



CHAPTER IV. 

Barbarities exercised by the Inquisitions of Spain aim 
Portugal. 

Francis Romanes, a native of Spain, was employed by 
the merchants of Antwerp to transact some business for 
them at Bremen. He had been educated in the Romish 
persuasion, but going one day into a protcstant church, he 
was struck with the truths which he heard, and beginning 
to perceive the errors of popery, he determined to search 
further into the matter. Perusing the sacred scriptures, 
and the writings of some protestant divines, he perceived 
how erroneous were the principles which he had formerly 
embraced ; and renounced the impositions of popery for 
the doctrines of the reformed church, in which religion 
appeared in all its genuine purity. Resolving to think only 
of his eternal salvation, he studied religious truths more 
than trade, and purchased books rather than merchandise, 
convinced that the riches of the body are trifling to those of 
the soul. He therefore resigned his agency to the mer- 
chants of Antwerp, giving them an account at the same 
time of his conversion ; and then resolving, if possible, to 
convert his parents, he went to Spain for that purpose ; 
but the Antwerp merchants writing to the inquisitors, he 
was seized upon, imprisoned for some time, and then con- 
demned to be burnt as a heretic. He was led to the place 
©f execution in a garment painted over with devils, and 
Jiad a paper mitre put upon his head by way of derision. 
As he passed by a wooden cross one of the priests bade 
him kneel to it, but he absolutely refused so to do, saying, 
" It is not for Christians to worship wood." Having been 
placed upon a pile of wood the fire quickly reached him 
whereupon he lifted up his head suddenly ; the priests 
thinking he meant to recant, ordered him to be taken down. 
Finding, however, that they were mistaken, and that he 
still retained his constancy, he was placed again upon the 
pile, where as long as he had life and voice remaining, he 
kept repeating the seventh psalm. 



100 POX S BOOK OF MARTYRS 

Horrid Treachery of an Inquisitor 

A lady, with her two daughters and her niece, were ap 
prehended at Seville for professing the protestant religion. 
They were all put to the torture ; and when that was ovei 
one of the inquisitors sent for the youngest daughter, pre- 
tended to sympathise with her and pity her sufferings ; then 
binding himself with a solemn oath not to betray her, he 
said, " If you will disclose ail to me, I promise you I will pro- 
cure the discharge of your mother, sister, cousin, and your- 
self." Made confident by his oath, and entrapped by pro- 
mises, she revealed the whole of the tenets they professed; 
when the perjured wretch, instead of acting as he had 
sworn, immediately ordered her to be put to the rack, say- 
ing, " Now you have revealed so much I will make you 
reveal more." Refusing, however, to say any thing fur- 
ther, they were all ordered to be burnt : which sentence 
was executed at the next Auto da Fe*. 

The keeper of the castle of Triano, belonging to the 
inquisitors of Seville, happened to be of a disposition more 
mild and humane than is usual with persons in his situation. 
He gave all the indulgence he could to the prisoners, and 
showed them ewery favour in his power, with as much se- 
crecy as possible. At length, however, the inquisitors 
became acquainted with his kindness, and determined to 
punish him severely for it, that other gaolers might be de- 
terred from showing the least traces of that compassion 
which ought to glow in the breast of every human being. 
With this view they immediately threw him into a dismal 
dungeon, and used him with such dreadful barbarity. that he 
lost his senses. His deplorable situation, however, procured 
him no favour ; for, frantic as he was, they brought him 
from prison, at an Auto da Fe", to the usual place of 
punishment, with a sanbenito (or garment worn by crimi- 
nals) on, and a rope about his neck. His sentence was 
then read, and ran thus : that he should be placed upon an 
ass, led through the city, receive two hundred stripes, and 
t! -n be condemned for six years to the galleys. This un- 
1 ppy, frantic wretch, just as they were about to begin his 
punishment, suddenly sprung from the back of the ass, 
broke the cords that bound him snatched a sword from one 
of the guards, and dangerously wounded an officer of the 



fox's book of martyrs 161 

inquisition. Being overpowered by multitudes, he was 
prevented from doing further mischief, seized, bound more 
securely to the ass, and punished according to his sentence. 
But so inexorable were the inquisitors, that for the rash 
effects of his madness four years were added to his slavery 
in the galleys. 

Trial and Sufferings of Mr. Isaac Martin. 

In the year 1714, about Lent, Mr. Martin arrived at 
Malaga, with his wife and four children. On the exami- 
nation of his baggage his Bible and some other books were 
seized. He was accused in about three months time of 
being a Jew, for these curious reasons, that his own name 
was Isaac, and one of his sons was named Abraham. The 
accusation was laid in the bishop's court, and he informed 
the English consul of it, who said it was nothing but the 
malice of some of the Irish papists, whom he advised him 
always to shun. The clergy sent to Mr. Martin's neigh- 
bours to know their opinion concerning him : the result of 
which inquiry was this, " We believe him not to be a Jew, 
but a heretic." After this, being continually pestered by 
priests, particularly those of the Irish nation, to change his 
religion, he determined to dispose of what he had and re- 
tire from Malaga. But when his resolution became known, 
at about nine o'clock at night he heard a knocking at his 
door. He demanded who was there. The persons with- 
out said they wanted to enter. He desired they would 
come again the next morning ; but they replied, if he 
would not open the door they would break it open ; which 
they did. Then about fifteen persons entered, consisting 
of a commissioner, with several priests and familiars be- 
longing to the inquisition. Mr. Martin would fain have 
gone to the English consul, but they told him the consul 
nad nothing to do in the matter, and then said, " Where 
are your beads and firearms V To which he answered, "I 
am an English protestant, and as such carry no private 
arms, nor make use of beads." They took away his watch, 
money, and other things, carried him to the bishop's prison, 
and put on him a pair of heavy fetters. His distressed fa- 
mily was at the same time turned out of doors till the 
14* 



162 FOX'S fcOOK OF MARTYRS. 

house was stripped ; and when they had taken every thin£ 
away, they returned the key to his wife. 

About four days after his commitment, Mr. Martin was 
told he must be sent to Granada to be tried ; he earnestly 
begged to see his wife and children before he went, but 
this was denied. Being doubly fettered, he was mounted 
on a mule, and set out toward Granada. By the way the 
mule threw him upon a rocky part of the road, and almost 
broke his back. 

On his arrival at Granada, after a journey of three 
days, he was detained at an inn till it was dark, for they 
never put any one into the inquisition during daylight. At 
night he was taken to the prison, and led along a range oi 
galleries till he arrived at a dungeon. The gaoler nailed 
up a box of books, belonging to him, which had been 
brought from Malaga, saying, they must remain in that 
state till the lords of the inquisition chose to inspect them, 
for prisoners were not allowed to read books. He also 
took an inventory of every thing which Mr. Martin had 
about him, even to his very buttons ; and having asked 
him a great number of frivolous questions, he at length 
gave him these orders : " You must observe as great 
silence here as if you were dead ; you must not speak, nor 
whistle, nor sing, nor make any noise that can be heard ; 
and if you hear any body cry or make a noise, you must 
be still and say nothing upon pain of two hundred lashes." 
Mr. Martin asked if he might have liberty to walk about 
the room ; the gaoler replied he might, but it must be very 
softly. After giving him some wine, bread, and a few 
walnuts, the gaoler left him till the morning. It was frost}' 
weather, the walls of the dungeon were between two and 
three feet thick, the floor was bricked, and a great deal of 
wind came through a hole of about a foot in length, and 
five inches in breadth, which served as a window. The 
next morning the gaoler came to light his lamp, and bade 
him light a fire in order to dress his dinner. He then took 
him to a turn, or such a wheel as is found at the doors of 
convents, where a person on the other side turns the pro- 
visions round. He had then given him half a pound of 
mutton, two pounds of bread, some kidney beans, a bunch 
of raisins, and a pint of wine, which was the allow ance 



Fox's B00f4 OF MARTYRS. 163 

for three days. He had likewise two pounds of charcoal, 
an earthen stove, and a few other articles. 

In about a week lie was ordered to an audience ; he fol- 
lowed the gaoler, and coming to a large room saw a man 
sitting between two crucifixes ; and another with a pen in 
his hand, who was, as he afterward learned, the secretary. 
The chief lord inquisitor was the person between the two 
crucifixes, and appeared to be about sixty years of age. 
He ordered Mr. M. to sit down upon a little stool that 
fronted him. A frivolous examination then took place ; 
the questions related to his family, their religion, &c, and 
his own tenets of faith. The prisoner admitted that he 
was a protestant, told the inquisitor that the religion of 
Christ admitted of no persecution, and concluded with 
saying that he hoped to remain in that religion. He under- 
went five examinations without any thing serious being al- 
leged against him. 

In a few days after he was called to his sixth audience, 
when, after a few immaterial interrogatories, the inquisitor 
told him the charges against him should be read, and that 
he must give an immediate and prompt answer to each re- 
spective charge. 

The accusations against him were then read ; they 
amounted to twenty-six, but were principally of the most 
trivial nature, and the greater number wholly false, or, if 
founded on facts, so distorted and perverted by the malice 
of his accusers, as to bear little resemblance to the real 
occurrences to which they related. Mr. Martin answered 
the whole of them firmly and discreetly, exposing their 
weakness, and detecting their falsehood. 

He was then remanded to his dungeon ; was shaved on 
Whitsun-eve, (shaving being allowed only three times in the 
year,) and the next day one of the gaolers gave him some 
frankincense to be put into the fire, as he was to receive a 
visit from the lords of the inquisition. Two of them ac- 
cordingly came, asked many trivial questions, concluding 
them as usual, with, " We will do you all the service we 
can." Mr. Martin complained greatly of their having pro- 
mised him a lawyor to plead his cause ; " When instead of a 
proper person," said he, " there was a man whom you 
called a lawyer, but he never spoke to me, nor I to him : 
If all your lawyers are so quiet in this country, they are 



164 fox's book of martyrs. 

the quietest in the world, for he hardly said any thing bu 
yes and no to what your lordship said." To which one of 
the inquisitors gravely replied, " Lawyers are not allowed 
to speak here." At this the gaoler and secretary went out 
of the dungeon to laugh, and Mr. Martin could scarce re- 
frain from smiling in their faces, to think that his cause 
was to be defended by a man who scarce dared to open 
his lips. Some time after he was ordered to dress himself 
very clean : as soon as he was ready one of the gaolers 
came and told him that he must go with him ; but that 
first he must have a handkerchief tied about his eyes. He 
now expected the torture ; but after another examination 
was remanded to his dungeon. 

About a month afterward, he had a rope put round his 
neck, and was led by it to the altar of the great church. 
Here his sentence was pronounced, which was, that for the 
crimes of which he stood convicted, the lords of the holy 
office had ordered him to be banished out of the dominions 
of Spain, upon the penalty of two hundred lashes, and 
being sent five years to the galleys : and that he should at 
present receive two hundred lashes through the streets of 
the city of Grenada. 

Mr. Martin was sent again to his dungeon that night, and 
the next morning the executioner came, stripped him, tiec 
his hands together, put a rope about his neck, and led him 
out of the prison. He was then mounted on an ass, and 
received his two hundred lashes, amidst the shouts and 
peltings of the people. He remained a fortnight after this 
in gaol, and at length was sent to Malaga. Here he was 
put in gaol for some days, till he could be sent on board an 
English ship ; which had no sooner happened, than news 
was brought of a rupture between England and Spain, and 
that ship, with many others, was stopped. Mr. Martin, not 
neing considered as a prisoner of war, was put on board 
of a Hamburgh trader, and his wife and children soon 
came to him, but he was obliged to put up with the loss 
of his effects, which had been embezzled by the inqui- 
sition. 

His case was published by the desire of Secretary 
Craggs, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the 
bishops of London, Winchester, Ely, Norwich, Sarem, 



fox's book of martyrs. lba 

Chichester, St. Asaph, Lincoln, Bristol, Peterborough, 
Bangor, &c. 

Discovery of some Enormities of the Inquisition. 

In the beginning of the last century, when the crown 
of Spain was contested for by two princes, France espoused 
the cause of one competitor and England of the other. 
The duke of Berwick, (a natural son of James II., of 
England) commanded the Spanish and French forces, 
and defeated the English at the battle of Almanza. The 
army was then divided into two parts ; the one, consisting 
of Spaniards and French, headed by the duke of Berwick, 
advanced toward Catalonia ; the other body, consisting of 
French troops only, commanded by the duke of Orleans, 
proceeded to the conquest of Arragon. On the troops 
approaching the city of Arragon, the magistrates came to 
offer the keys to the duke of Orleans ; but he told them 
haughtily they were rebels, and that he would not accept 
ihe keys, for he had orders to enter the city through a 
breach. Accordingly, he made a breach in the walls with 
his cannon, and then entered the city through it, together 
with his whole army. When he had made regulations 
here, and ordered that heavy contributions should be 
levied, he departed to subdue other places, leaving a 
strong garrison, under the command of his lieutenant-gene- 
ral M. De Legal. This gentleman, though brought up a 
Roman Catholic, was totally free from superstition : he 
united great talents with great bravery, and was at once 
the accomplished gentleman and skilful officer. 

The money levied upon the magistrates and principal 
inhabitants, and upon every house was paid as soon as 
demanded ; but when the persons applied to the heads of 
the convents and monasteries, they found the ecclesiastics 
very unwilling to part with their cash. 

M. De Legal sent to the Jesuits a peremptory order to 
pay two thousand pistoles immediately. The superior of 
the Jesuits returned for answer, that for the clergy to pay 
money to the army was against all ecclesiastical immuni- 
ties ; and that he knew of no argument that could autho- 
rize such a procedure. M. De Legal then sent four com- 
panies of dragoons to quarter themselves in the college, 



66 FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 

with this sarcastic message : " To convince you of the 
necessity of paying the money, T have sent four substantia 
arguments to your college, drawn from the system of mili- 
tary logic ; and, therefore, hope you will not need any 
further admonition to direct your conduct." 

The Jesuits, greatly perplexed at these proceedings 
despatched an express to court to the king's confessor, who 
was of their order ; but the dragoons were much more 
expeditious in plundering and doing mischief than the 
courier in his journey: so that the Jesuits, seeing every 
thing going to ruin, thought proper to adjust the matter, 
and paid the money before the return of the messenger. 
The Augustines and Carmelites, taking warning by what 
had happened to the Jesuits, prudently went and paid the 
money, and by that means escaped the study of military 
arguments, and of being taught logic by the dragoons. 

On the other hand, the Dominicans, who are all agents 
of the inquisition, imagined that that very circumstance 
would be their protection ; but they were mistaken, 
for M. De Legal neither feared nor respected the inquisi- 
tion. The chief of the Dominicans sent word to the mili- 
tary commander, that his order was poor, and had not any 
money whatever to pay the donative ; " For," said he, 
" the whole wealth of the Dominicans consists only in 
the silver images of the apostles and saints which are 
placed in our church, and to remove which would be ac- 
counted sacrilege." 

This insinuation was meant to terrify the French com- 
mander ; he however sent word that the silver images 
would make admirable substitutes for money, and would 
be more in character in his possession than in that of the 
Dominicans themselves ; " For," said he, " while you 
possess them, they stand up in niches, useless and motion- 
less, without being of the least benefit to mankind ; but. 
wnen they come into my possession, they shall be useful. 
I will put them in motion ; for I intend to have them 
coined, when they may travel like the apostles." 

The inquisitors were astonished at this treatment, which 
they never expected to receive, even from crowned heads ; 
they therefore determined to deliver their precious images 
in a solemn procession, that they might excite the 
people to an insurrection. The Dominican friars were 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



167 



accordingly ordered to march to De Legal's house, with 
the silver apostles and saints, in a mournful manner, 
having lighted tapers with them, and hitterly crying all the 
way, " Heresy ! heresy !" 

When M. De Legal heard of these proceedings, he or- 
dered four companies of grenadiers to line the street 
which led to his house ; each grenadier was ordered to 
have his loaded fuzee in one hand, and a lighted taper in 
the other : so that the troops might either repel force with 
force, or do honour to the farcical ceremony. The friars 
did all they could to raise a tumult, but the people were 
too much afraid of the troops ; the silver images were 
therefore delivered up to M. De Legal, who sent them to 
the mint to be coined. 

The inquisitors however, determined to excommunicate 
M. De Legal, unless he would release their precious saints 
from imprisonment in the mint before they were melted 
down. The French commander absolutely refused to do 
this, upon which the inquisitors drew up the form of ex- 
communication, and ordered their secretary to go and read 
it to him. 

This commission the secretary punctually performed, 
and read the excommunication deliberately and distinctly. 
The French commander heard him with great patience, 
and politely told him he would answer it the next day. 
As soon as the secretary was gone, M. De Legal ordered 
his own secretary to prepare a form of excommunication 
exactly like that sent by the inquisition : but instead of 
his name, to put in those of the inquisitors. 

The next morning he ordered four regiments under 
arms, and commanded them to accompany his secretary, 
and act according to his direction. The secretary went 
to the inquisition, and insisted upon admittance ; which, 
after a great deal of altercation, was granted. As soon as 
he entered, he read, in an audible voice, the excommuni- 
cation sent by M. De Legal against the inquisitors. They 
were all present, and heard it with astonishment. They 
cried out against De Legal, as a heretic ; and said this 
was a most daring insult against the Catholic faith. But, 
to surprise them still more, the French secretary told 
them, they must remove from their present lodgings ; for 
the French commander wanted to quarter his troops tnereg 



168 fox's book of .martyrs. 

as it was the most commodious place in the whole city. 
On this the inquisitors exclaimed loudly, when the secre- 
tary put them under a strong guard, and sent them to a 
place appointed by M. De Legal to receive them. Here, 
finding their threats disregarded, they begged that they 
might be permitted to retire from the city, taking with them 
their private property, which was granted, and they im 
mediately set out for Madrid, where they made the most bit- 
ter complaints to the king; but the monarch told them ne 
could not grant them any redress, as the injuries they h^i 
received were from the troops of his grandfather, the king 
of France, by whose assistance alone he could be firmly 
established in his kingdom. 

In the meantime, M. De Legal set open all the doors of 
the inquisition, and released the prisoners, who amounted 
in the whole to four hundred ; and among these were sixty 
beautiful young women, who formed a seraglio for the 
three principal inquisitors. 

This discovery, which laid open the enormity of the in- 
quisitors, greatly alarmed the archbishop, who desired M. 
De Legal to send the women to his palace, and he would 
take proper care of them ; and at the same time he pub- 
lished an ecclesiastical censure against all such as should 
ridicule or blame the holy inquisition. But the French 
commander sent word to the archbishop, that the prisoners 
had either ran away, or were securely concealed by their 
friends, or his own officers ; that it was impossible for him 
to send them back again ; and, therefore, the inquisition 
having committed such atrocious actions, must now put up 
with their exposure and shame. 

One of the ladies thus delivered from captivity was after 
ward married to the French officer who opened the door 
of her dungeon and released her. She related many sin- 
gular circumstances respecting the holy fathers to her 
husband and to M. Gavin, who afterward made them public 
in his work entitled " The Master Key to Popery." 

From the foregoing narrative it will be perceived that 
the inquisitors, under the exterior garb of sanctity and self 
denial, are guilty of the greatest enormities. Lust, pride, 
avarice, and cruelty, are their predominant passions ; and 
such is the blindness and bigotry of the deluded people 
over whom they extend their despotic sway, that not a 



169 

voice is raised, nor a murmur heard, against the most hor- 
rible barbarities, if they be sanctified by the specious pre 
text of zeal for the Catholic faith, and executed by the fa- 
miliars of the Holy Office. 

It might have been expected that their influence over 
the minds of the higher orders of society would have been 
less powerful ; and that some one would have been found 
among the sovereigns of Spain or Portugal, sufficiently 
enlightened to see through the imposture, and courageous 
enough to assert his own rights and those of his subjects 
against the hypocritical tyrants who trampled on both. 
But such is the benumbing effect of this horrible tribunal, 
so powerful has it become by the weakness and folly of 
the people, that the only prince who dared to threaten its 
existence, was put to death by the machinations of the in- 
quisitors, before his accession to the throne gave him an 
opportunity of executing his noble purpose. This unfor- 
tunate prince was Don Carlos, son of Philip the Second, 
and grandson of Charles the Fifth. 

Don Carlos possessed all the good qualities of his grand- 
father, without any of the bad ones of his father. He had 
sense enough to see into the errors of popery, and abhor- 
red the very name of the inquisition. He inveighed pub- 
licly against it, ridiculed the affected piety of the inquisi- 
tors, and declared, that if he ever came to the crown he 
would abolish the inquisition, and exterminate its agents. 
This irritated and alarmed the inquisitors ; and they ac- 
cordingly determined on his destruction. They therefore 
employed all their emissaries to spread the most artful in- 
sinuations against the prince ; and at length raised such a 
spirit of discontent among the people, that the king was 
under the necessity of removing Don Carlos from court. 
They even pursued his friends, and obliged the king to 
banish Don John, duke of Austria, his brother, together 
with his own nephew, the prince ol" Parma, because both 
these illustrious persons had a most sincere attachment to 
their kinsman, Don Carlos. 

Shortly after, the prince having shown great lenity 
and favour to the protestants in the Netherlands, the 
inquisitors gladly seized the opportunity of declaring, that 
as the persons in question were heretics, the prince himself 
must be one, since he gave them countenance. Thus they 
15 



170 

gained so great an ascendency over the mind of the king 
who was an absolute slave to superstition, that he sacrificed 
the feelings of nature to the force of bigotry, and from fear 
of incurring the anger of the inquisition, passed sentence 
of death on his only son. 

The prince had what was termed an indulgence ; that 
is, he was permitted to choose the manner of his death. 
He chose bleeding and the hot bath ; when the veins of 
his arms and legs being opened, he expired gradually, fall 
ing a martyr to the malice of the inquisitors, and the be 
sotted bigotry of his father. 



CHAPTER IIL 

Persecutions in Bohemia and Germany, 

The severity exercised by the Roman catholics over the 
reformed Bohemians, induced the latter to send two mi- 
nisters and four laymen to Rome, in the year 977, to seek 
redress from the pope. After some delay their request 
was granted, and their grievances redressed. Two things 
in particular were permitted to them, viz. ; to have divine 
service in their own language, and to give the cup in the 
sacrament to the laity. The disputes, however, soon broke 
out again, the succeeding popes exerting all their power to 
resume their tyranny over the minds of the Bohemians ; 
and the latter, with great spirit, aiming to preserve their 
religious liberties. 

Some zealous friends of the gospel applied to Charles, 
king of Bohemia, a. d. 1375, to call a council for an in- 
quiry into the abuses that had crept into the church, and to 
make a thorough reformation. Charles, at a loss how to 
proceed, sent to the pope for advice ; the latter, incensed 
at the affair, only replied, " Punish severely those pre- 
sumptuous and profane heretics." The king, accordingly, 
banished every one who had been concerned in the appli 
cation ; and to show his zeal for the pope, laid many ad- 
ditional restraints upon the reformed Christians of the 
country. 

The martyrdom of John Buss and Jerome of Prague 



171 

greatly increased the indignation of the believers, and gave 
animation to their cause. These two great and pious men 
were condemned hy order of the council of Constance, 
when fifty-eight of the principal Bohemian nobility inter- 
posed in their favour. Nevertheless they were burnt ; and 
the pope, in conjunction with the council of Constance, 
ordered the Romish clergy everywhere to excommunicate 
all who adopted their opinions, or murmured at their fate. 
In consequence of these orders great contentions arose be- 
tween the papists and reformed Bohemians, which pro- 
duced a violent persecution against the latter. At Prague 
it was extremely severe, till at length the reformed, driven 
to desperation, armed themselves, attacked the senate- 
house, and cast twelve of its members, with the speaker, 
out of the windows. The pope hearing of this went to 
Florence and publicly excommunicated the reformed Bo- 
hemians, exciting the emperor of Germany, and all other 
kings, princes, dukes, &c, to take up arms in order to ex- 
tirpate the whole race ; promising, by way of encourage- 
ment, full remission of all sins to the most wicked person 
who should kill one Bohemian protest ant. The result of 
this was a bloody war : for several popish princes under- 
took the extirpation, or at least expulsion, of the pro- 
scribed people ; while the Bohemians, arming themselves, 
prepared to repel them in the most vigorous manner. The 
popisn army prevailing against the protestant forces at the 
battle of Cuttenburgh, they conveyed their prisoners to 
three deep mines near that town, and threw several hun- 
dreds into each, where they perished in a miserable 
manner. 

A bigoted popish magistrate, named Pichel, seized 
twentv-four protestants, among whom was his daughter's 
ausband. On their all confessing themselves of the re- 
formed religion, he sentenced them to be drowned in the 
river Abbis. On the day of the execution a great con 
course of people attended ; and Pichel's daughter threw 
herself at her father's feet, bedewed them with tears, and 
implored him to pardon her husband. The obdurate ma- 
gistrate sternly replied, " Intercede not for him, child, he 
is a heretic, a vile heretic." To which she nobly answer- 
ed, " Whatever his faults may be, or however his opinions 
may differ from yours, he is still my husband, a though* 



fox's book op martins. 

which at a time like this should alone employ my whole 
consideration " p ichel flew into a violent passion, and 
said. " You art xnad ! cannot you, after his death nave a 
much worthier husband 1" " No, sir," replied she, " my 
affections are fixed upon him, and death itself shall not 
dissolve my marriage vow." Pichel, however, continued 
inflexible, and ordered the prisoners to be tied with their 
hands and feet behind them, and in that manner thrown 
into the river. This being put into execution, the young 
lady watched her opportunity, leaped into the w r aves, and 
embracing the body of her husband, both sunk together. 

Persecution by the Emperor Ferdinand. 

The emperor Ferdinand, whose hatred to the protest 
ants was unlimited, not thinking he had sufficiently op- 
pressed them, instituted a high court of reformers, upon 
the plan of the inquisition, with this difference, that the 
reformers were to remove from place to place. The 
greater part of this court consisted of Jesuits, and from its 
decisions there was no appeal. Attended by a body of 
troops they made the tour of Bohemia, and seldom examined 
or saw a prisoner ; but suffered the soldiers to murder the 
protestants as the}' pleased, and then to make report of 
the matter afterward. 

The first who fell a victim to their barbarity was an 
aged minister, whom they killed as he lay sick in bed, 
Next day they robbed and murdered another, and soon 
after shot a third while preaching in his pulpit. 

They ravished the daughter of a protestant before his 
face, and then tortured her father to death. They tied a 
minister and his wife back to back and burnt them. An- 
other minister they hung upon a cross-beam, and making a 
fire under him, broiled him to death. A gentleman they 
hacked into small pieces ; and they filled a young man's 
mouth with gunpowder, and setting fire to it, blew his 
l iead to pieces. 

But their principal rage being directed against the clergy, 
they seized a pious protestant minister, whom they tor- 
mented daily for a month, in the following manner : they 
placed him amidst them, and derided and mocked him : 
they spit in his face and pinched him in various parts of 



POX'S BOOK 01 MARTYRS. 173 

bis body ; they bunted him like a wild beast, till ready to 
expire with fatigue ; they made him run the gauntlet, each 
striking him with a twig, their fists, or ropes ; they scourged 
him with wires ; they tied him up by the heels, with his 
bead downward, till the blood started out of his nose, 
mouth, &c. ; they hung him up by the arms till they were 
dislocated, and then had them set again ; burning papers 
dipped in oil, were placed between his fingers and toes ; 
his flesh was torn with red-hot pincers ; he was put to the 
rack ; they pulled off the nails of bis fingers and toes ; he 
was bastinadoed on his feet ; a slit was made in his ears 
and nose; they set him upon an ass, and whipped him 
through the town ; his teeth were pulled out ; boiling lead 
was poured upon his fingers and toes ; and, lastly, a knot- 
ted cord was twisted about his forehead in such a manner 
as to force out his eyes. In the midst of these enormities, 
particular care was taken lest his wounds should mortify, 
and his sufferings be thus shortened, till the last day, when 
the forcing out of his eyes caused his death. 

The other acts of these monsters were various and dia- 
bolical. At length, the winter being far advanced, the h^h 
court of reformers, with their military ruffians, thought 
proper to return to Prague ; but on their way meeting w* h 
a protestant pastor, they could not resist the temptation of 
feasting their barbarous eyes with a new kind of cruelty. 
This was to strip him naked, and to cover him alternately 
with ice and burning coals. This novel mode of torture 
was immediately put in practice, and the unhappy victim 
expired beneath the torments which delighted his inhuman 
persecutors. 

Some time after, a secret order was issued by the empe- 
ror for apprehending all noblemen and gentlemen who had 
been principally concerned in supporting the protestant 
cause, and in nominating Frederic, elector palatine of the 
Rhine, to be the king of Bohemia. Fifty of these were sud- 
denly seized in one night and brought to the castle of 
Prague ; while the estates of those who were absent were 
confiscated, themselves made outlaws, and their names fix- 
ed upon a gallows as a mark of public ignominy. 

The high court of reformers afterward proceeded to try 
those who had been apprehended, and two apostate pro- 
testants were appointed to examine them. Their exami- 
15* 



ifi Po±-a sock of MAnflYfts* 

nors asked many unnecessary and impertinent questions, 
which so exasperated one of the noblemen, that he ex- 
claimed, opening his breast at the same time, " Cut here, 
search my heart, you shall find nothing but the love of re- 
ligion and liberty : these were the motives for which I drew 
my sword, and for those I am willing to die." 

As none of the prisoners would renounce their faith, or 
acknowledge themselves in error, they were all pronounced 
guilty ; the sentence was, however referred to the em- 
peror. When that monarch had read their names, and the 
accusations against them, he passed judgment on all, but 
in a different manner ; his sentences being of four kinds, 
viz. : death, banishment, imprisonment for life, and im- 
prisonment during pleasure. Twenty of them being or- 
dered for execution, were informed the} r might send for 
Jesuits, monks, or friars, to prepare for their awful change, 
but that no communication with protestants would be per- 
mitted them. This proposal they rejected, and strove all 
they could to comfort and cheer each other upon the so- 
lemn occasion. The morning of the execution being ar- 
rived, a cannon was fired as a signal to bring the prisoners 
from the castle to the principal market-place, in which 
scaffolds were erected, and a body of troops drawn up to 
attend. The prisoners left the castle, and passed with 
dignity, composure, and cheerfulness, through soldiers, Je- 
suits, priests, executioners, attendants, and a prodigious 
concourse of people assembled to see the exit of these de- 
voted martyrs. In pursuance of their sentence the whole 
twenty were beheaded, meeting death with a fortitude 
worthy of the cause in which they suffered. 

Account of John Huss. 

John Huss was born in the village of Hussenitz, in Bo- 
hemia, about the year 1380. His parents gave him the 
best education they could bestow, and having acquired a 
tolerable knowledge of the classics, at a private school, he 
was sent to the university of Prague, where the powers 01 
his mind and his diligence in study soon rendered him 
conspicuous. 

In 1408, he commenced bachelor of divinity, and was 
successively chosen pastor of the church of Bethlehem, in 



FOX** BOOk OP MARTYRS, lfS 

Prague, and dean and rector of the university. The dut" 
of these stations lie discharged with great fidelity, and 
became at length so conspicuous for the boldness and truth 
of his preaching that he attracted the notice and raised 
the malignity of the pope and his creatures. 

His influence in the university was very great, not only 
on account of his learning, eloquence, and exemplary life, 
but also on account of some valuable privileges he had 
obtained from the king in behalf of that seminary. 

The English reformer, AVicklifTe, had so kindled the 
light of reformation, that it began to illumine the darkest 
corners of popery and ignorance. His doctrines were 
eceived in Bohemia with avidity and zeal, by great num- 
Ders of people, but by none so particularly as John Huss, 
and his friend and fellow-martyr, Jerome of Prague. 

The reformists daily increasing, the archbishop of Prague 
issued a decree to prevent the further spreading of Wick- 
liffe's writings. This, however, had an effect quite the 
reverse to what he expected, for it stimulated the converts 
to greater zeal, and at length almost the whole university 
united in promoting them. 

Strongly attached to the doctrines of Wickliffe, Huss 
strenuously opposed the decree of the archbishop, who, 
notwithstanding, obtained a bull from the pope authorizing 
him to prevent the publishing of Wickliffe's writings in his 
province. By virtue of this bull, he proceeded against 
four doctors, who had not delivered up some copies, and 
prohibited them from preaching. Against these proceedings, 
Huss, with some other members of the university, protested, 
and entered an appeal from the sentences of the archbishop. 
The pope no sooner heard of this, than he granted a com- 
mission to cardinal Colonna, to cite John Huss to appear 
at the court of Rome, to answer accusations laid against 
him, of preaching heresies. From this appearance, Huss 
desired to be excused, and so greatly was he favoured in 
Bohemia, that king Winceslaus, the queen, the nobility, 
and the university, desired the pope to dispense with such 
an appearance ; as also that he would not suffer the king- 
dom of Bohemia to lie under the accusation of heresy, but 
permit them to preach the gospel with freedom in their 
places of worship. 

Three proctors appeared for Huss before cardinal 



176 fox's book of ma in yes. 

Colonna. They made an excuse for his absence, and said, 
they were ready to answer in his behalf. But the cardinal 
declared him contumacious, and accordingly excommuni- 
cated him. On this the proctors appealed to the pope, 
who appointed four cardinals to examine the process : 
these commissioners confirmed the sentence of the cardi- 
nal, and extended the excommunication, not only to Huss, 
but to all his friends and followers. Huss then appealed 
from this unjust sentence to a future council, but without 
success ; and, notwithstanding so severe a decree, and an 
expulsion from his church in Prague, he retired to Hus- 
senitz, his native place, where he continued to promulgate 
the truth, both from the pulpit, and with the pen. 

He here compiled a treatise, in which he maintained, 
that reading the books of protestants could not be absolute- 
ly forbidden. He wrote in defence of Wickliffe's book on 
the Trinity ; and boldly declared against the vices of the 
pope, the cardinals, and the clergy of those corrupt times. 
Besides these, he wrote many other books all of which 
were penned with such strength of argument, as greatly 
facilitated the spreading of his doctrines. 

In England the persecutions against the protestants had 
been carried on for some time with relentless cruelty. 
They now extended to Germany and Bohemia, where 
Huss, and Jerome of Prague, were particularly singled 
out to suffer in the cause of religion. 

In the month of November, 1414, a general council 
was assembled at Constance, in Germany, for the purpose 
of determining a dispute then existing between three per- 
sons who contended for the papal throne.* 

John Huss was summoned to appear at this council 
and to dispel any apprehensions of danger, the emperor sent 
him a safe-conduct, giving him permission freely to come 
to, and return from the council. On receiving this infor- 
mation, he told the persons who delivered it, " That he 
desired nothing more than to purge himself publicly or 

* These were, John, proposed and set up by the Italians; Gregory, by 
the French ; and Benedict, by the Spaniards. The council continued four 
years, in which the severest laws were enacted to crush the protestants. 
Pope John was deposed and obliged to fly, the most heinous crimes being 
proved against him ; among which were, his attempt to poison his prede- 
cessor, his being a gamester, a liar, a murderer, an adulterer, and guilty of 
Unnatural offences. 



TOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. j 7? 



the imputation of heresy ; and that he esteemed himself 
happy in having so fair an opportunity of it, as at the 
council to whirl) he was summoned to attend." 



In the latter end of No '/ember, he set out to Constan 



CI' 



accompanied by two Bohemian noblemen, who were 
among the most eminent of his disciples, and who followed 
him merely through respect and affection. He caused 
some placards to be fixed upon the gates of the churches 
of Prague, in which he declared, that he went to the coun- 
cil to answer all allegations that might be made against 
him. He also declared, in all the cities through which he 
passed, that he was going to vindicate himself at Constance, 
and invited all his adversaries to be present. 

On his way he met with every mark of affection and 
reverence from people of all descriptions. The streets and 
even the roads, were thronged with people, whom respect, 
rather than curiosity, had brought together. He was usher- 
ed into the towns with great acclamations ; and he pas- 
sed through Germany in a kind of triumph. " I thought," 
said he, " I had been an outcast. 1 now see my worst 
friends are in Bohemia." 

On his arrival at Constance, he immediately took lodg- 
ings in a remote part of the city. Soon after, came one 
Stephen Paletz, who was engaged by the clergy at Prague 
to manage the intended prosecution against him. Paletz 
was afterwards joined by Michael de Cassis, on the part 
of the court of Rome. These two declared themselves his 
accusers, and drew up articles against him, which they pre- 
sented to the pope, and the prelates of the council. 

Notwithstanding the promise of the emperor, to give 
him a safe-conduct to and from Constance, he regarded not 
his word ; but, according to the maxim of the council, that 
" Faith is not to be kept with heretics," when it was 
known he was in the city, he was immediately arrested, 
and committed prisoner to a chamber in the palace. Thi 
breach was particularly noticed by one of Huss's friends, 
who urged the imperial safe-conduct ; but the pope replied, 
lie never granted any such thing, nor was he bound by that 
of the emperor. 

While Huss was under confinement, the council acted 
the part of inquisitors. They condemned the doctrines ol 
Wickliffe, and, in their impotent malice, ordered his re 



178 

mains to be dug up and burnt to ashes ; which orders were 
obeyed. 

In the meantime the nobility of Bohemia and Poland 
used all their interest for Huss ; and so far prevailed as to 
prevent his being condemned unheard, which had been re- 
solved on by the commissioners appointed to try him. 

Before his trial took place, his enemies employed a 
Franciscan friar, who might entangle him in his words, and 
then appear against him. This man, of great ingenuity 
and subtlety, came to him in the character of an idiot, and 
with seeming sincerity and zeal, requested to be taught his 
doctrines. But Huss soon discovered him, and told him 
that his manners wore a great semblance of simplicity ; 
but that his questions discovered a depth and design be- 
yond the reach of an idiot. He afterward found this pre- 
tended fool to be Didace, one of the deepest logicians in 
Lohtbardy. 

At length he was brought before the council, when the 
articles exhibited against him were read : they were up- 
wards of forty in number, and chiefly extracted from his 
writings.* 

On his examination being finished he was taken from 
the court, and a resolution was formed by the council to 
burn him as a heretic, unless he retracted. He was then 
committed to a filthy prison, where, in the daytime, he 
was so laden with fetters on his legs that he could hardly 
move ; and every night he was fastened by his hands to a 
ring against the walls of the prison. 

He continued some days in this situation, in which time 
many noblemen of Bohemia interceded in his behalf. 
They drew up a petition for his release, which was pre- 
sented to the council by several of the most illustrious no- 
bles of Bohemia ; notwithstanding which, so many enemies 
bad Huss in that court, that no attention was paid to it, and 
be persecuted reformer was compelled to bear with the 
punishment inflicted on him by that merciless tribunal. 

Shortly after the petition was presented, four bishops 
ind two lords were sent by the emperor to the prison, in 

* That the reader may form a judgment of his writings, we here give 
)ne of the articles for which he was condemned : "An evil and a wickoj 
nope is not the successor of Peter, but of Judas." 



FOX P BOOK OF MARTYRS. 179 

order to prevail on Huss to make a recantation. But lie 
called God to witness that he was not conscious of having 
preached or written any thing against his truth, or the faith 
of the orthodox church. The deputies then represented 
the great wisdom and authority of the council; to which 
Huss replied, " Let them send the meanest person of that 
council, who can convince me by argument from the word 
of God, and I will submit my judgment to him." This 
pious answer had no effect, because he would not take the 
authority of the council upon trust, without the least sha- 
dow of an argument offered. The deputies, therefore, 
finding they could make no impression on him, departed, 
greatly astonished at the strength of his resolution. 

On the 4th of July he was, for the last time, brought be- 
fore the council, After a long examination he was desired 
to abjure, which he refused without the least hesitation. 
The bishop of Lodi then preached a sermon, the text of 
which was, " Let the body of sin be destroyed," (concern- 
ing the destruction of heretics,) the prologue to his in- 
tended punishment. After the close of the sermon his 
fate was determined, his vindication rejected, and judg- 
ment pronounced. The council censured him for being ob- 
stinate and incorrigible, and ordained, " That he should 
be degraded from the priesthood, his books publicly burnt, 
and himself delivered to the secular power." 

He received the sentence without the least emotion ; 
and at the close of it he kneeled down with his eyes lifted 
toward heaven, and, with all the magnanimity of a primi- 
tive martyr, thus exclaimed : " May thy infinite mercy, 
my God ! pardon this injustice of mine, enemies. Thou 
knowest the injustice of m}' accusations : how deformed 
with crimes I have been represented ; how I have been 
oppressed with worthless witnesses, and a false condem- 
nation ; yet, O my God ! let that mercy of thine, which 
no tongue can express, prevail with thee not to avenge my 
wrongs." These excellent sentences were received as so 
many expressions of heresy, and only tended to inflame 
his adversaries. Accordingly, the bishops appointed by 
the council, stripped him of his priestly garments degraded 
him, and put a paper mitre on his head, on which were 
painted devils, with this inscription : " A ringleader of 
heretics." 



180 

Tliis mockeiy was received by the heroic martyr witli 
an air of unconcern, which appeared to give him dignity 
rather than disgrace. A sereraty appeared in his looks t 
which indicated that his soul had cut off many stages of a 
tedious journey in her way to the realms of everlasting 
happiness. 

The ceremony of degradation being over, the bishops 
delivered him to the emperor, who committed him to the 
care of the duke of Bavaria. His books were burnt at the 
gates of the church ; and on the 6th of July he was led to 
the suburbs of Constance, to be burnt alive. 

When he had reached the place of execution, he fell on 
his knees, sung several portions of the Psalms, looked 
steadfastly toward heaven, and repeated, " Into thy hands, 
O Lord ! do I commit my spirit : thou hast redeemed me, 
O most good and faithful God." 

As soon as the chain was put about him at the stake, he 
said, with a smiling countenance, " My Lord Jesus Christ 
was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, why 
then should I be ashamed of this old rusty one V 1 

When the fagots were piled around him, the duke of 
Bavaria desired him to abjure. " No," said he, " I never 
preached any doctrine of an evil tendency ; and what 1 
taught with my lips I now seal with my blood." He then 
said to the executioner, " You are now going to burn a 
goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language,) 
but in a century you will have a swan whom you can 
neither roast nor boil." If this were spoken in prophecy, 
he must have, meant Martin Luther, who flourished about 
a century after, and who had a swan for his arms. 

As soon as the fagots were lighted, the heroic martyr 
sung a hymn, with so loud and cheerful a voice, that he 
was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, 
and the noise of the multitude. At length his voice was 
nterrupted by the flames, which soon put a period to his 
ife. 

Account of Jerome of Prague, 

This hero in the cause of truth, was born at Prague, and 
educated in its university, where he soon became distin 
guished for his learning and eloquence Having completed 



fox's book of martyrs. IS I 

his studies, he travelled over great part of Europe, and 
visited many of the seats of learning, particularly the uni- 
versities of Paris, Heidelburg, Cologne, and Oxford. At 
the latter he became acquainted with the works of Wick- 
liffe, and translated many of them into his own language. 

On his return to Prague he openly professed the doc- 
trines of Wickliffe, and finding that they had made a con- 
siderable progress in Bohemia, from the industry and zeal 
of Huss, he became an assistant to him in the great work 
of reformation. 

On the 4th of April, 1415, Jerome went to Constance. 
This was about three months before the death of Huss. 
He entered the town privately, and consulting with some 
of the leaders of his party, was easily convinced that lie 
could render his friend no service. 

Finding that his arrival at Constance was publicly known, 
and that the council intended to seize him, he retired, and 
went to Iberling, an imperial town, a short distance from 
Constance. While here, he wrote to the emperor, and 
declared his readiness to appear before the council, if a 
safe-conduct were granted to him ; this, however, was re- 
fused. 

After this, he caused papers to be put up in all the 
public places in Constance, particularly on the doors of the 
cardinals' houses. In these he professed his willingness to 
appear at Constance in the defence of his character and 
doctrine, both which, he said, had been greatly falsified. 
He further declared, that if any error should be proved 
against him, he would retract it ; desiring only that the 
faith of the council might be given for his security. 

Receiving no answer to these papers, he set out on his 
return to Bohemia, taking the precaution to carry v/ith him 
a certificate, signed by several of the Bohemian nobility, 
then at Constance, testifying that he had used every pru- 
dent means in his power, to procure an audience. 

He was, however, notwithstanding this, seized on his 
way, without any authority, at Hirsaw, by an officer be- 
longing to the duke of Sultzbach, who hoped thereby to 
receive commendations from the council for so acceptable 
a service. 

The duke of Sultzbach immediately wrote to the council, 
nforming them what he had done, and asking directions 

16 



182 

how to proceed with Jerome. The council, after express 
ing their obligations to the duke, desired him to send the 
prisoner immediately to Constance. He was, accordingly 
conveyed ihither in irons, and on his way, was met by the 
elector palatine, who caused a long chain to be fastened 
to him, by which he was dragged, like a wild beast, to the 
cloister, whence, after an examination, he was conveyed 
fo a tower, and fastened to a block, with his legs in stocks. 
In this manner he remained eleven days and nights, till 
becoming dangerously ill in consequence, his persecutors, 
in order to gratify their malice still farther, relieved him 
from that painful state. 

He remained confined till the martyrdom of his friend 
Huss ; after which, he was brought forth and threatened 
with immediate torments and death if he remained obsti- 
nate. Terrified at the preparations which he beheld, he, 
in a moment of weakness, forgot his resolution, abjured his 
doctrines, and confessed that Huss merited his fate, and 
that both he and Wickliffe were heretics. In consequence 
of this, his chains were taken off, and he was treated more 
kindly ; he was, however still confined, but in hopes of 
liberation. But his enemies suspecting his sincerity, pro- 
posed another form of recantation to be drawn up and pro- 
posed to him. To this, however, he refused to answer, 
except in public, and was accordingly, brought before the 
council, when, to the astonishment of his auditors, and to 
the glory of truth, he renounced his recantation, and re 
quested permission to plead his own cause, which was re- 
fused ; and the charges against him were read, in which 
he was accused of being a derider of the papal dignity, an 
opposer of the pope, an enemy to the cardinals, a perse- 
cutor of the prelates, and a hater of the Christian religion. 

To these charges Jerome answered with an amazing 
force of elocution and strength of argument. After which 
he was remanded to his prison. 

The third day from this his trial was brought on, and 
witnesses were examined. He was prepared for his de- 
fence, although he had been nearly a year shut up in 
loathsome prisons, deprived of the light of day, and al- 
most starved for want of common necessaries. But his 
spirit soared above these disadvantages. 

The most bigoted of the assembly were unwilling ho 



183 

should be heard, dreading the effect of eloquence in the 
cause of truth on the minds of the most prejudiced. At 
lengtn, however, it was carried by the majority, that he 
should have liberty to proceed in his defence ; which he 
began in such an exalted strain, and continued in such a 
torrent of elocution, that the most obdurate heart was 
melted, and the mind of superstition seemed to admit a 
ray of conviction. 

Bigotry, however, prevailed, and his trial being ended, 
he received the same sentence as had been passed upon 
his martyred countryman, and was, in the usual style of 
popish duplicity, delivered over to the civil power ; but 
being a layman, he had not to undergo the ceremony of 
degradation. 

Two days his execution was delayed in hopes that he 
would recant; in which time the cardinal of Florence used 
his utmost endeavours to bring him over. But they all 
proved ineffectual : Jerome was resolved to seal his doc- 
trine with his blood. 

On his way to the place of execution he sung several 
hymns ; and on arriving there he knelt down and prayed 
fervently. He embraced the stake with great cheerfulness 
and resolution ; and when the executioner went behind 
him to set fire to the fagots, he said, " Come here, and 
kindle it before my eyes ; for had I been afraid of it, I 
had not come here, having had so many opportunities to 
escape." 

When the flames enveloped him, he sung a hymn ; and 
the last words he was heard to say, were, " This soul in 
flames I offer. Christ, to thee !" 



CHAPTER IV. 

General Persecutions in Germany, 

Martin Luther, by unmasking popery, and by the vigour 
with which he prosecuted his doctrines, caused the papal 
throne to shake to its foundation. So terrified was the 
pope at his rapid success, that he determined, in order to 
stop his career, to engage the emperor, Charles V., in his 



184 fox's book of martyrs. 

scheme of utterly extirpating all who had embraced the 
reformation. To accomplish which, he gave the emperoi 
200,000 crowns ; promised to maintain 12,000 foot, and 
5000 horse, for six months, or during a campaign ; allow- 
ed the emperor to receive one half of the revenues of the 
clergy in Germany during the war ; and permitted him to 
pledge the abbey lands for 500,000 crowns, to assist in 
carrying on hostilities. Thus prompted and supported, the 
emperor, with a heart eager both from interest and preju- 
dice for the cause, undertook the extirpation of the pro- 
testants ; and for this purpose raised a formidable army in 
Germany, Spain, and Italy. 

The protestant princes in the meantime were not idle ; 
but formed a powerful confederacy, in order to repel the 
impending blow. A great army was raised, and the com- 
mand given to the elector of Saxony and the landgrave 
of Hesse. The imperial forces were commanded by the 
emperor in person, and all Europe waited in anxious sus- 
pense the event of the war. 

At length the armies met, and a desperate engagement 
ensued, in which the protestants were defeated, and the 
elector of Saxony and landgrave of Hesse, both taken 
prisoners. This calamitous stroke was succeeded by a 
persecution, in which the most horrible cruelties wire in- 
flicted on the protestants, and suffered by them with a for- 
titude which religion only can impart. 

Among others, Henry Yoes and John Esch were appre 
hended and brought to examination ; when, confessing and 
defending their adoption of the tenets of Luther, they were 
both condemned to the flames, and soon after suffered with 
the fortitude of real Christians. 

An eloquent and pious preacher, named Henry Stut- 
phen, was taken out of his bed at night, and compelled to 
walk barefoot a considerable way, so that his feet were ter- 
ribly cut. On desiring a horse, his conductors said, in de- 
rision, " A horse for a heretic ! no, no, heretics may go 
barefoot." On arriving at the place of destination, he 
was comdemned to be burnt ; and while suffering in the 
flames he was cut and slashed in a terrible manner 

Many were murdered at Halle. Middlcburgh Le ng 
taken by assault, all the protestants were put to the 
sword. Great numbers were also burned at Vienna. 



FOX f S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 1S5 

Peter Spengler, a divine of the town of Schalet, was 
thrown into the river and drowned. 

Wolfgang Scuch, and John Huglin, two worthy minis- 
ters, Were burned ; likewise Leonard Keyser, a student 
of the university of Wirtemburg ; and George Carpenter, 
a Bavarian, was hanged. 

The persecutions in Germany having been suspended 
many years, again broke out in 1630, on account of a wa. 
between the emperor and the king of Sweden ; the latter 
being a protestant prince, the protestants of Germany, in 
consequence, espoused his cause, which greatly exasperated 
the emperor against them. 

The imperial army having laid siege to the town of Pas- 
se walk, (then defended by the Swedes,) took it by storm, 
and committed the most monstrous outrages on the occa- 
sion. They pulled down the churches, pillaged and burnt 
the houses, massacred the ministers, put the garrison to 
the sword, hanged the townsmen, ravished the women, 
smothered the children, &c, <fcc. 

In 1631, a most bloody scene took place at the pro 
testant city of Magdeburg. The generals Tilly and Pap- 
penheim, having taken it by storm, upwards of 20,000 per- 
sons, without distinction of rank, sex, or age, were slain 
during the carnage, and 6,000 drowned in attempting to 
escape over the river Elbe. After which, the remaining 
inhabitants were stripped naked, severely scourged, had 
their ears cropped, and being yoked together like oxen were 
turned adrift. 

On the popish army's taking the town of Hoxter, all the 
inhabitants, with the garrison, were put to the sword. 

"When the imperial forces prevailed at Griphenburgh, 
they shut up the senators in the senate chamber, and sur- 
rounding it by lighted straw, suffocated them. 

Franhendal, notwithstanding it surrendered upon articles 
of capitulation suffered as cruelly as other places, and at 
FJeidelburg many were shut up in prison and starved. 

To enumerate the various species of cruelty practised 
by the imperial troops, under count Tilly, would excite 
disgust and horror. That sanguinary monster, in his pro- 
gress through Saxony, not only permitted every excess in 
his soldiers, but actually commanded them to put all their 



186 fox's book of martyrs. 

enormities in practice. Some of these are so unparalleled 
that we feel ourselves obliged to mention them. 

In Hesse-Cassel, some of the troops entered a hospital, 
in which were principally mad women, when stripping all 
the pi or wretches naked, they made them run about the 
streets for their diversion, and then put them to death. 

In Pomerania, some of the imperial troops entering a 
small town, seized upon all the young women and girls of 
upward of ten years, and then placing their parents in a 
circle, they ordered them to sing psalms, while they 
lavished their children, or else they swore they would 
cut them to pieces afterward. They then took all the 
married women who had young children, and threatened, 
if they did not consent to the gratification of their lusts, to 
burn their children before their faces, in a large fire which 
they had kindled for that purpose. 

A band of Tilly's soldiers met with a company of mer- 
chants belonging to Basil, who were returning from the 
great market of Strasbourg, and attempted to surround 
them ; all escaped, however, but ten, leaving their property 
behind. The ten who were taken begged hard for their 
lives, but the soldiers murdered them, saying, " You must 
die because you are heretics, and have got no money. 

Wherever Tilly came, the most horrid barbarities and 
cruel depredations ensued ; famine and conflagration 
marked his progress. He destroyed all the provisions he 
could not take with him, and burnt all the towns before he 
left them; so that murder, poverty, and desolation followed 
him. 

Peace, at length, chiefly through the medium of England, 
was restored to Germany, and the protestants for several 
years enjoyed the free' exercise of their religion. 

Even as late as 1732, above 30,000 protestants were, 
contrary to the treaty of Westphalia, driven from the arch- 
bishopric of Saltzburg, in the depth of winter, with scarce 
clothes to cover them, and without provisions. These 
people emigrated to various protestant countries, and sel- 
tled in places where they could enjoy the free exercise of 
their religion, free from popish superstition and papal des- 
ootism. 



fox's book of martyrs. 187 

Vcrsecutions in the Netherlands. 

The glorious light of the gospel spreading over every 
p*». *t of the continent, and chasing thence the dark night 
ot ignorance, increased the alarm of the pope, who urged 
the emperor to commence a persecution against the pro- 
testants ; when many thousands fell martyrs to superstitious 
malice and barbarous bigotry ; among whom were the fol- 
lowing : 

A pious protestant widow, named Winde/nuta, was ap- 
prehended on account of her religion, when several monks 
unsuccessfully endeavoured to persuade her f o recant. 
Their attempts, however, proving ineffectual, a Roman ca- 
tholic lady of her acquaintance desired to be admitted to 
the dungeon in which she was confined, promising to ex- 
ert herself toward inducing the prisoner to abjure her re- 
ligion. On being admitted to the dungeon, she did her ut- 
most to perform the task she had undertaken ; but finding 
her endeavours fruitless, she said, " Dear Windeluta, if 
you will not embrace our faith, at least keep the things 
which you profess secret within your own bosom, and strive 
to prolong your life." To which the widow replied, 
" Madam, you know not what you say ; for with the heart 
we believe to righteousness, but with the tongue confession 
is made unto salvation." Still holding her faith against 
every effort of the powers of darkness, her goods were 
confiscated, and. she was condemned to be burnt. At the 
place of execution a monk presented a cross to her, and 
bade her kiss and worship God. To which she answered, 
" I worship no wooden God, but the eternal God who is in 
heaven." She was then executed, but at the intercession 
of the beforementioned lady, it was granted that she should 
be strangled before the fagots were kindled. 

At Colen, two protestant clergymen were burnt ; a 
tradesman of Antwerp, named Nicholas, was tied up in a 
sack, thrown into the river and drowned ; and Pistorius, 
an accomplished scholar and student, was carried to the 
market of a Dutch village and burnt. 

A minister of the reformed church was ordered to attend 
the execution of sixteen protestants who were to be be- 
headed. This gentleman performed the melancholy office 
with great propriety, exhorted them to repentance, and 



188 fox's book of martyrs. 

gave them comfort in the mercies of their Redeemer. As 
soon as they were beheaded, the magistrate cried out to the 
executioner, " There is another remaining ; you must be- 
head the minister ; he can never die at a better time than 
with such excellent precepts in his mouth, and such lauda- 
ble examples before him." He was accordingly beheaded, 
though many of the Roman Catholics themselves repro- 
bated this piece of treacherous and unnecessary barbarity. 

George Sche 1 ier, a minister of Saltzburg, was committed 
to prison for i ^structing his flock in the truth of the gospel. 
While in confinement he wrote a confession of his faith ; 
soon after which he was condemned, first to be beheaded, 
and afterward to be burnt to ashes, which sentence was ac- 
cordingly put in execution. 

Percival, a learned man of Louviana, was murdered in 
prison ; and Justus Insparg was beheaded for having Lu- 
ther's sermons in his possession. 

Giles Tolleman, a cutler of Brussels, was a man of sin- 
gular humanity and piety. He was apprehended as a pro- 
testant, and many attempts were made by the monks to per- 
suade him to recant. Once, by accident, a fair opportu- 
nity of escaping from prison offered itself to him, but of 
which he did not avail himself. Being asked the reason, 
he replied, " I would not do the keepers so much injury ; 
as they must have answered for my absence had I got 
away." When he was sentenced to be burnt, he fervently 
thanked God for allowing him, by martyrdom, to glorify 
his name. Observing at the place of execution a great 
quantity of fagots, he desired the principal part of them 
might be given to the poor, saying, "A small quantity 
will suffice to consume me." The executioner offered to 
strangle him before the fire was lighted, but he would not 
consent, telling him that he did not fear the flames ; and, 
indeed, he gave up the ghost with such composure amidst 
them, that he hardly seemed sensible of pain. 

In Flanders, about 1543 and 1544, the persecution 
raged with great violence. Many were doomed to perpe- 
tual imprisonment, others to perpetual banishment ; but 
the greater number were put to death either by hanging 
drowning, burning, the rack, or burying alive. 

John de Boscane, a zealous protestant, was apprehended 
.n the city of Antwerp. On his trial he undauntedly 



fox's hook or martyrs. 18^ 

professed himself to be of the reformed religion, on which 
he was immediately condemned. The magistrate, how- 
ever, was afraid to execute the sentence publicly, as he 
was popular through his great generosity, and almost uni- 
versally revered for his inoffensive life and exemplary piety. 
A. private execution was, therefore, determined on, for 
which an order was given to drown him in prison. The 
executioner, accordingly, forced him into a large tub ; but 
Boscane struggling, and getting his head above the water, 
the executioner stabbed him in several places with a dagger 
till he expired. 

John de Buisons, on account of his religion, was, about 
the same time, secretly apprehended. In this city the 
number of protestants being great, and the prisoner much 
respected, the magistrates, fearful of an insurrection, or- 
dered him to be beheaded in prison. 

In 156S were apprehended at Antwerp, Scoblant, Hues, 
dnd Coomans. The first who was brought to trial was 
Scoblant, who, persisting in his faith, received sentence of 
death. On his return to prison, he requested the jailor 
not to permit any friar to come near him, saying, " They 
can do me no good, but may greatly disturb me. I hope 
my salvation is already sealed in Heaven, and that the 
blood of Christ, in which I firmly put my trust, hath wash- 
ed me from my iniquities, I am now going to im ,w off 
this mantle of clay, to be clad in robes of eterna -\ory. I 
hope I may be the last martyr of papal tyranny, and that 
the blood already spilt will be sufficient to quench its thirst 
of cruelty ; that the church of Christ may have rest here, 
as his servants will hereafter." On the day of execution 
he took a pathetic leave of his fellow prisoners. At the 
stake he uttered with great fervency the Lord's prayer, 
and sung the fortieth psalm ; then commending his soul to 
God, the flames soon terminated his mortal existence. 

A short time after Hues died in prison, upon which oc- 
casion Cooiians thus vents his mind to his friends ; " I am 
■ now deprivea of my friends and companion; Scoblant is 
martyred, and Hues dead by the visitation of the Lord ; 
yet I am not alone : I have with me the God of Abraham, 
of Isaac, and of Jacob : he is my comfort, and shall be my 
reward." When brought to trial, Hues freely confessed 
himself of the reformed religion, and answered with a 



190 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



manly firmness to every charge brought again t him, 
proving his doctrine from the gospel. " But," said the 
judge, " will you die for the faith you profess V " I am 
not only willing to die," replied Coomans, " but also to 
suffer the utmost stretch of inventive cruelty for it : after 
which my soul shall receive its confirmation from God him- 
self, in the midst of eternal glory." Being condemned, he 
went cheerfully to the place of execution, and died with 
Christian fortitude and resignation. 

Asssasination of the Prince of Orange, 




Baltazar Gerard, a native of Franche Comte, a bigoted 
and furious Roman Catholic, thinking to advance his own 
fortune and the popish cause by one desperate act, resolved 
upon the assassination of the prince of Orange. Having 
provided himself Math firearms, he watched the prince as 
he passed through the great hall of his palace to dinner, 
and demanded a passport. The princess of Orange, ob- 
serving in his tone of voice and manner something con- 
fused and singular, asked who he was, saying, she did n ot 
like his countenance. The prince answered, it was one 
that demanded a passport, which he should have presently. 
Nothing further transpired until after dinner, when on the 
Tturn of the prince and princes through the same hall 



FOX'S BOOK OP MARTYR." 191 

he assassin, from behind one of the pillars, mod at the 
prince : the balls entering at the left side, and passing 
through the right, wounded in their passage the stomach 
and vital parts. The prince had only power to say, " Lord 
have mercy upon my soul, and upon this poor people," and 
immediately expired. 

The death of this virtuous prince, who was considered 
as the father of his people, spread universal sorrow 
throughout the United Provinces. The assassin was im- 
mediately taken, and received sentence to be put to death 
in the most exemplary manner ; yet such was his enthusiasm 
and blindness for his crime, that while suffering for it, he 
coolly said, " Were I at liberty I would repeat the 
same." 

In different parts of Flanders numbers fell victims to 
popish jealousy and cruelty. In the city of Valence in 
particular, fifty-seven of the principal inhabitants were 
butchered in one day for refusing to embrace the Romish 
superstition ; beside whom, great numbers remained in 
confinement till they perished. 



C H AP TER V. 

Persecutions in Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries. 

In the year 1560, pope Pius the Fourth commenced a 
general persecution of the protestants throughout the Italian 
states, when great numbers of every age, sex, and condi- 
tion, suffered martyrdom. Concerning the cruelties prac- 
tised upon this occasion, a learned and humane Roman 
catholic thus speaks in a letter to a nobleman : 

" I cannot, my lord, forbear disclosing my sentiments 
with respect to the persecution now carrying on. I think 
k cruel and unnecessary ; I tremble at the manner of put- 
ting to death, as it resembles more the slaughter of calves 
and sheep, than the execution of human beings. I will 
relate to your lordship a dreadful scene, of which I was 
myself an eye-witness : seventy protestants were cooped 
p mi one filthy dungeon together ; the executioner wen*, 



192 



fox's book of martyrs. 



m among thorn, picked out one from among the rest 
blindfolded him, led him out to an open place before tht 
prison, and cut his throat with the greatest composure 




Butchery of seventy Protestants. 

He then calmy walked into the prison again, bloody as he 
was, and with the knife in his hand selected another, and 
despatched him in the same manner ; and this, my lord, 
lie repeated till the whole number were put to death. I 
leave it to your lordship's feelings to judge of my sensa- 
tions upon the occasion ; my tears now wash the paper 
upon which I give you the recital. Another thing I must 
mention, the patience with which they met death : they 
seemed all resignation and piety, fervently praying to God 
and cheerfully encountering their fate, I cannot reflect 
without shuddering, how the executioner held the bloody 
knife between his teeth ; what a dreadful figure he appear- 
ed, all covered with blood, and with what unconcern he 
executed his barbarous office !" 

Persecutions in Piedmont. 

Early in the seventeenth century, Pope Clement the 
Eighth sent missionaries in the valleys of Piedmont, with 
a view to induce the protestants to renounce their religion 



fox's hook of martyrs. 1!)-? 

Tnese missionaries erected monasteries in several parts o 
the valleys, and soon became very troublesome to the re- 
formed, to whom the monasteries appeared not only as 
fortresses to curb, but as sanctuaries for all such to fly to 
as had injured them in any degree. 

The insolence and tyranny of these missionaries in- 
creasing, the protestants petitioned the duke of Savoy for 
protection. But instead of granting any redress, the duke 
published a decree, in which he declared that one witness 
should be sufficient in a court of law against a protestant ; 
and that any witness who convicted a protestant of any 
crime whatever, should be entitled to a hundred crowns as 
a reward. 

In consequence of this, as may be imagined, many pro- 
testants fell martyrs to the perjury and avarice of the pa- 
pists, who would swear any thing against them for the sake 
of the reward, and then fly to their own priests for abso- 
lution from their false oaths. 

These missionaries endeavoured to get the books of the 
protestants into their power, in order to burn them ; and 
on the owners concealing them, wrote to the duke of 
Savoy, who, for the heinous crime of not surrendering 
their bibles, prayer-books, and religious treatises, sent a 
number of troops to be quartered on them, which occasion 
ed the ruin of many families. 

To encourage as much as possible the apostacy of the 
protestants, the duke published a proclamation, granting 
an exemption for five years from all taxes to every pro- 
testant who should become a catholic. He likewise esta- 
blished a court called the council for extirpating the here- 
tics ; the object and nature of which are sufficiently eviden> 
from its name. 

After this the duke published several edicts, prohibiting 
the protestants from acting as schoolmasters or tutors - % 
from teaching any art, science, or language ; from holding 
any places of profit, trust, or honour ; and, finally, com- 
manding them to attend mass. This last was the signal 
for a persecution, which, of course, soon followed. 

Before the persecution commenced, the missionaries 

employed kidnappers to steal away the children of the 

protestants, that they might privately be brought up Roman 

catholics ; but now they took away the children by open 

17 



194 fox*s Book op MAnftHs. 

force, and if the wretched parents resisted they were im 
mediately murdered. 

The duke of Savoy, in order to give force to the per- 
secution, called a general assembly of the Roman catholic 
nobility and gentry, whence issued a solemn edict against 
the reformed, containing many heads, and including seve- 
ral reasons for extirpating them, among which the follow- 
ing were the principal : The preservation of the papal au- 
thority ; that the church livings might be all under one 
mode of government ; to make a union among all parties ; 
in honour of all the saints, and of the ceremonies of the 
church of Rome. 

This was followed by a most cruel order, published on 
January 25, 1655. which decreed that every family of the 
reformed religion, of whatever rank, residing in Lucerne, 
St. Giovanni, Bibiana, Campiglione, St. Secondo, Lucer- 
netta, La Torre, Fenile, or Bricherassio, should, within 
three days after the publication thereof, depart from their 
habitations to such places as were appointed b} r the duke, 
on pain of death and confiscation. 

This order produced the greatest distress among the un- 
happy objects of it, as it was enforced with the greatest 
severity in the depth of a very severe winter, and the peo- 
ple were driven from their habitations at the time appoint- 
ed, without even sufficient clothes to cover them ; by which 
many perished in the mountains through the severity of 
the weather or for want of food. Those who remained be- 
hind alter the publication of the decree, were murdered by 
the popish inhabitants, or shot by the troops, and the most 
horrible barbarities were perpetrated by these ruffians, en- 
couraged by the Roman catholic priests and monks, of 
which the following may serve as a specimen. 

Martha Constantine, a beautiful young woman, was first 
ravished, and then killed by cutting off her breasts. These 
some of the soldiers fried, and set before their comrades, 
who eat them without knowing what they were. When 
they had done eating, the others told them what they had 
made a meal of, in consequence of which a quarrel en- 
sued, and a battle took place. Several were killed in the 
fray, the greater part of whom were those concerned in the 
horrid massacre of the woman, and the inhuman deception 
on their comrades. 




m - wim 






m 



lj , i'i' l, y i - ; .i:. | :. l :;i l ;,i 




Peter Simonds, a protestant of about eighty years of age, 
was tied neck and heels, and then thrown down a preci- 
pice. Il his fall the branch of a tree caught hold of the 
ropes and suspended him in the midway, so that he lan- 
guished for several days, till he perished of hunger. 

Esay Garcino, refusing to renounce his religion, the sol- 
diers cut him into small pieces, saying in ridicule, they had 
minced him. A woman, named Armand, was torn limb 
from limb, and then the respective parts were hung upon 
a hedge. 

Several men, women, and children were flung from the 
rocks and dashed to pieces. Among others, Magdalen Ber- 
tino, a protestant woman of La Torre, was stripped naked, 
her head tied between her legs, and she was then thrown 
down a precipice. Mary Raymondet, of the same town, 
had her flesh sliced from her bones till she expired ; Mag- 
dalen Pilot, of Villaro, was cut to pieces in the cave of 
Castolus; Ann Charboniere had one end of a stake thrust 
up her body, and the other end being fixed in the ground, 
she was left in that manner to perish ; and Jacob Perrin, 
the elder of the church of Villaro, with David, his bro- 
ther, was flayed alive. 

Giovanni Andrea Michiaiin, an inhabitant of La Torre 
with four of his children, was apprehended ; three of them 
were hacked to pieces before him, the soldiers asking 
him, at the death of every child, if he would recant, which 
he constantly refused. One of the soldiers then took up 
the last and the youngest by the legs, and putting the same 
question to the father, he replied as before, when the inhu- 
man brute dashed out the child's brains. The father, 
however, at the same moment started from them, and fled ; 
the soldiers fired after him, but missed him ; and he esca- 
to the Alps, and there remained concealed. 

Giovanni Pelanchion,on refusing to abjure his faith, was 
tied by one leg to the tail of a mule, and dragged through 
the streets of Lucerne, amid the acclamations of an 
inhuman mob, who kept stoning him, and crying out, " He 
is possessed of the devil." They then took him to the 
river side, chopped oflf his head, and left that and his body 
unburied, upon the bank of the river. 

A beautiful child, ten years of age, Magdalen Fontaine, 
was ravished and murdered by the soldiers. Another girl. 



J 96 FOX'S BOOK Of MARTYRS* 

of about the same age, they roasted alive at Villa Nova , 
and a poor woman hearing the soldiers were coming toward 
her house, snatched up the cradle in which her infant son 
was asleep, and fled toward the woods. The soldiers, 
however, saw and pursued her, when she lightened herself 
by putting down the cradle and child, which the soldiers 
no sooner came to, than they murdered the infant, and con- 
tinuing the pursuit, found, the mother in a cave, where 
they first ravished, and then cut her to atoms. 

Jacobo Michelino, chief elder of the church of Bobbio, 
and several other protestants, were hung up by hooks fixed 
in their flesh, and left so to expire. Giovanni Rostagnal, 
a venerable protestant, upward of fourscore years of age, 
had his nose and ears cutoff, and the flesh cut from his body, 
till he bled to death. 

Daniel Saleago and his wife, Giovanni Durant, Lodwich 
Durant, Bartholomew Durant, Daniel Revel, and Paul 
Reynard, had their mouths stuffed with gunpowder which 
being set fire to, their heads were blown to pieces. 

Jacob Birone, a schoolmaster of Rorato, was stripped 
naked ; and after having been so exposed, had the nails 
of his toes and fingers torn off with red-hot pincers, and 
holes bored through his hands with the point of a dagger. 
He next had a cord tied round his middle, and was led 
through the streets with a soldier on each side of him. At 
every turning the soldier on his ride-hand side cut a gash 
in his flesh, and the soldier on his left-hand side struck him 
with a bludgeon, both saving, at the same instant, " Will 
you go to mass ? Will you go to mass V 1 He still replied 
in the negative, and being at length taken to the bridge, 
they cut off his head on the balustrades, and threw both 
that and his body into the river. 

Paul Gamier, a protestant beloved for his piety, had his 
eyes put out, was then flayed alive, and being divided into 
four parts, his quarters were placed on four of the princi- 
pal houses of Lucerne. He bore all his sufferings with the 
most exemplary patience, praised God as long as he could 
speak, and plainly evinced the courage arising from a con- 
fidence in God. 

Daniel Cardon, of Rocappiata, being apprehended by 
some soldiers, they cut off his head. Two poor old blind 
women, of St. Giovanni, were burnt alive; and a widow 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 197 

of La Torre, with her daughter, was driven into the riverj 
and stoned to death there. 

A man named Paul Giles attempting to run away from 
some soldiers, was shot in the neck : they then slit his nose, 
sliced his chin, stabbed him, and gave his carcass to the 
dogs. 

Some of the Irish troops having taken eleven men o( 
Garcigliana prisoners, they heated a furnace red hot, and 
forced them to push each other in till they came *o the last 
man, whom they themselves pushed in. 

Michael Gonet, a man about ninety years old> vas bun I 
to death ; Baptista Oudri, another ok. man, was stabbed ; 
and Bartholemew Frasche had his heels pierced through 
which ropes being put, he was dragged by them to the goal, 
wherein consequence of his wounds mortifying, he soon 
died. 

Magdalena de la Peire being pursued by some of the sol- 
diers, and taken, was cast down a precipice, and dashed to 
pieces. Margaret Revella and Mary Pravillerin, two very 
old women, were burnt alive ; Michael Bellino, with Ann 
Bochardno, were beheaded ; Joseph Chairet, and Paul 
Carniero, were flayed alive. 

Daniel Maria, and all his family, being ill of a fever, 
several papist ruffians broke into his house, telling him they 
were practical physicians, and would give them all present 
ease ; which they did, by murdering the whole family. 

Lucy the wife of Peter Besson, being in an advanced 
state of pregnancy, determined, if possible, to escape from 
such dreadful scenes as everywhere surrounded her ; she 
accordingly took two young children, one in each hand, 
and set off toward the Alps. But on the third day of the 
Journey she was taken in labour among the mountains, 
and delivered of an infant, who perished through the incle- 
mency of the weather, as did the other two children ; for 
all three were found dead by her side, and herself just ex 
piring, by the person to whom she related the above cir- 
cumstances. 

Cipriana Bustia being asked if he would renounce his 
religion, and turn Roman catholic, replied, " I would 
rather renounce life, or turn dog;" to which a priest an- 
swered, " For that expression you shall both renounce 
life, and be given to the dogs." They accordingly drag- 
17* 



198 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



ged him to prison, where they confined him till he pei - 
jshed of hunger, after which they threw his corpse into tne 
street before the prison, and it was devoured by dogs. 

Joseph Pont was severed in two ; Margaret Soretta 
was stoned to death ; and Antonio Bertina had his head 
cleft asunder. 




Martyrdom of Francis Gross. 

Francis Gross bad his flesh slowly cut from his body 
into small pieces, and put into a dish before him ; two of 
his children were minced before his sight, while his wife 
was fastened to a post, to behold these cruelties practised 
on her husband and offspring. The tormenters, at length, 
tired of exercising their cruelties, decapitated both husbmd 
and wife. 

The Sieur Thomas Margher tied to a cave, where being 
discovered, the soldiers shut up the mouth, and he perished 
with famine. Judith Revelin, with seven children, were 
fcarbarously murdered in their beds. 

Jacob Roseno was commanded to pray to the saints, 
which he refusing the soldiers beat him violently with blud- 
geons to make him comply, but he continuing steady to his 
faith, they fired at him. While in the agonies of death they 
cried to him, " Will you pray to the saints ?" to which he 
answered " No !" when one of the soldiers, with a broad 



fox's book of martyrs. 199 

sword, clove his head asunder, and put an end to his suf 
ferings. 

A young woman named Susanna Ciacquin, being at- 
tempted to be ravished by a soldier, made a stout resist- 
ance, and in the struggle pushed him over a precipice, 
when he was dashed to pieces by the fall. His comrades 
immediately fel" upon her with their swords and cut her to 
atoms. 

Giovanni Pullius being apprehended as a protestant by 
the soldiers, was ordered by the marquis of Pianessa to be 
executed in a place near the convent. When brought to 
the gallows several monks attended to persuade him to re- 
nounce his religion. But finding him inflexible, the} com- 
manded the executioner to perform his office, which he did, 
and so launched the martyr into the world of glory. 

Paul Clement, an elder of the church of Rossana, being 
apprehended by the monks of a neighbouring monastery, 
was carried to the market-place of that town, where some 
protestants had just been executed. On beholding the dead 
bodies, he said calmly, " You may kill the body, but you 
cannot prejudice the soul of a true believer : with respect 
to the dreadful spectacles which you have here shown me, 
you may rest assured, that God's vengeance will overtake 
the murderers of those poor people, and punish them for 
the innocent blood they have spilt." The monks were so* 
exasperated at this reply, that they ordered him to be hung 
directly : and while he was hanging the soldiers amused 
themselves by shooting at the body. 

Daniel Rambaut, of Villaro, the father of a numerous 
family, was seized, and with several others, committed to 
the goal of Paysana. Here he was visited by several 
priests, who, with continual importunities, strove to per- 
suade him to turn papist, but this he peremptorily refused, 
and the priests finding his resolution, and enraged at his 
answers, determined to put him to the most horrible tor- 
tures, in the hope of overcoming his faith ; the} 7 therefore 
ordered one joint of his fingers to be cut off every day, 
till all the fingers were gone ; they then proceeded in the 
same manner with his toes ; afterward they alternately cut 
off, daily, a hand and a foot ; but finding that he bore his 
sufferings with the most unconquerable fortitude, and main- 
tained his faith with steadfast resolution, they stabbed him 



200 

to the heart, and then gave his body to be devoured bv 
dogs. 

Peter Gabriolo, a protestant gentleman of considerable 
eminence, being seized by a troop of soldiers, and refusing 
to renounce his religion, they hung several bags of gun- 
powder about his body, and then setting fire to them, blew 
him up. 

Anthony, the son of Samuel Catieris, a poor dumb lad 
and extremely inoffensive, was cut to pieces by a party of 
die troops ; and soon after the same ruffians entered the 
house of Peter Moniriat, and cut off the legs of the whole 
family, leaving them to bleed to death, they being unable 
to assist each other in that melancholy plight. 

Daniel Benech being apprehended, had his hose slit, and 
his ears cut off; after which he v/as divided into quarters, 
and each quarter hung upon a tree. Mary Monino had 
her jaw-bones broken, and was then left to languish till she 
was starved to death. 

Mary Pelanchion, a widow, of the town of Villaro, was 
seized by a party of the Irish brigades, who having beat 
her cruelly, and ravished her, dragged her to a high bridge 
which crossed the river, and stripping her naked, hung her 
by the legs to the bridge, with her head downward toward 
the water, and then going into boats, they shot her. 

Mary Nigrino, and her daughter, a poor idiot, were cut 
to pieces in the woods, and their bodies left to be devoured 
by wild beasts : Susanna Bales, a widow of Villaro, was 
immured and starved to death ; and Susanna Calvio, run- 
ning away from some soldiers, and hiding herself in a barn, 
they set fire to the straw, by which she was burnt to death. 

Daniel Bertino, a child, was burnt ; Paul Armand was 
hacked to pieces ; Daniel Michialino having his tongue 
plucked out, was left to perish in that condition ; and An- 
dreo Bertino, a lame and very old man, was mangled in a 
most shocking manner, and at length had his belly ripped 
open, and his bowels carried about on the point of a hal- 
berd. 

A protestant lady named Constantia Bellone was ap- 
prehended on account of her faith, and asked by a priest 
if she would renounce the devil and go to mass ? to wnich 
she replied, " I was brought up in a religion b) which I 
was always taught to renounce the devil ; but should I 



F0X*S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 201 

comply with your desire, and go to mass, I should he sure 
to meet him there in a variety of shapes." The priest 
was highly incensed at this, and told her to recant or she 
should suffer cruelly. She, however, boldly answered, 
4 That she valued not any sufferings he could inflict, and in 
spite of all the torments he could invent, she would keep 
her faith inviolate." The priest then ordered slices of 
her flesh to be cut off from various parts of her body. 
This she bore with the most singular patience, only saving 
to the priest, " What horrid and lasting torments will you 
suffer in hell, for the trifling and temporary pains which I 
now endure !" {Exasperated at this expression, the priest 
ordered a file of musketeers to draw up and fire upon her, 
by which she was soon despatched. 

Judith Mandon was fastened to a stake, and sticks 
thrown at her from a distance. By this inhuman treatment 
her limbs were beat and mangled in a most terrible man- 
ner. At last one of the bludgeons striking her head, she 
was at once freed from her pains and her life. 

Paul Genre and David Paglia, each with his son, attempt- 
ing to escape to the Alps, were pursued and overtaken by 
the soldiers in a large plain. Here they hunted them for their 
diversion, goading them with their swords, and making 
them run about till they dropped down with fatigue. 
When they found that their spirits were quite exhausted, 
the soldiers hacked them to pieces, and left their mangled 
bodies on the spot. 

Michael Greve, a young man of Bobbio, was appre- 
hended in the town of La Torre, and being led to the 
bridge, was thrown over into the river. Being an expert 
swimmer, he swam down the stream, thinking to escape, 
but the soldiers and mob followed on both sides, and kept 
stoning him, till receiving a blow on one of his temples, he 
sunk and was drowned. 

David Armand was forced to lay his head down on a 
block, when a soldier with a large hammer beat out his 
brains. David Baridona was apprehended at Villaro, and 
carried to La Torre, where, refusing to renounce his reli- 
gion, he was tormented by brimstone matches being tied 
between his fingers and toes, and set fire to, and afterward, 
by having his flesh plucked off with red hot pincers till 
qc expired. Giovanni Barolina, with his wife, were thrown 



MARTYRS. 

into a pool of stagnant water, and compelled, by means of 
pitch-forks and stones, to duck down their heads till they 
were suffocated with the stench. 

A number of soldiers assaulted the house of Joseph 
Garniero, and before they entered, fired in at the window, 
and shot Mrs. Garniero, who was at that instant suckling 
her child. She begged them to spare the life of the infant, 
which they promised to do, and send it immediately to a. 
Roman catholic nurse. They then seized the husband 
and hanged him at his own door, and having shot the wi *\ 
through the head, left her body weltering in its blood. 

Isaiah Mondon, an aged and pious protestant, fled fron 
the merciless persecutors to a cleft in a rock, where he 
suffered the most dreadful hardships; for, in the midst of 
the winter he was forced to lie on the bare stone, without 
any covering ; his food was the roots he could scratch up 
near his miserable habitation, and the only way by which 
he could procure drink, was to put snow in his mouth till 
it melted. Here, however, some of the soldiers found him 
and after beating him unmercifully, they drove him toward 
Lucerne, goading him all the way with the points of their 
swords. Being exceedingly weakened by his manner of 
living, and exhausted by the blows he had received, he fell 
down in the road. They again beat him to make him pro- 
ceed, till on his knees lie implored them to put him out of 
his misery. This they at hist agreed to do ; and one of 
them shot him through the head, saying, "There, heretic, 
take thy request." 

To screen themselves from danger, a number of men, 
women, and children fled to a large cave, where they con- 
tinued for some weeks in safety, two of the men going by 
stealth to procure provisions. These were, however, one 
day watched, by which the cave was discovered, and soon 
after a troop of Roman catholics appeared before it 
Many of these were neighbours and intimate acquaintance 
and some even relations to those in the cave. The pro 
testants, therefore, came out and implored them by th 
ties of hospitality and of blood, not to murder them. Bu 
the bigoted wretcYies told them they could not show an* 
mercy to heretics, and, therefore, bade them all prepan 
to die. Hearing this, and knowing the obduracy of thei 
enemies, the protestants fell on their kne's, lifted thei 



203 

hearts to heaven, and patiently awaited their fate ; which 
the papists soon decided by cutting them to pieces. 

Heroic Defence of the Protestants of Moras. 

The blood of the faithful being almost exhausted in all 
the towns and villages of Piedmont, there remained but 
one place that had been exempted from the general slaugh- 
ter. This was the little commonalty of Roras, which stood 
upon an eminence. Of this one of the duke of Savoy's 
officers determined, if possible, to make himself master; 
with that view he detached three hundred men to sur- 
prise it. 

The inhabitants, however, had intelligence of the ap- 
proach of these troops, and captain Joshua Gianavel, a 
brave protestant officer, put himself at the head of a small 
body of the citizens, and waited in ambuscade to attack 
the enemy in a narrow passage, the only place by which 
the town could be approached. 

As soon as the troops appeared, and had entered the 
passage, the protestants commenced a well-directed fire 
against them, and kept themselves concealed behind 
bushes. A great number of the soldiers were killed, and 
the rest receiving a continual fire, and not seeing any to 
whom they might return it, made a precipitate retreat. 

The members of this little community immediately sent 
a memorial to the marquis of Piannessa, a general officer 
of the duke, stating, " That they were sorry to be under 
the necessity of taking up arms ; but that the secret ap- 
proach of a body of troops, without any previous notice 
sent of the purpose of their coming, had greatly alarmed 
them ; that as it was their custom never to suffer any of 
the military to enter their little community, they had re- 
pelled force by force, and should do so again ; but in alf 
other respects they professed themselves dutiful, obedient^ 
and loyal subjects to their sovereign the duke of Savoy." 

The marquis, in order to delude and surprise them, an- 
swered, " That re was perfectly satisfied with their beha- 
viour, for they had done right, and even rendered a service 
to their country, as the men who had attempted to pass 
the defile were not his troops, but a band of cesperate 
robbers, who had for some time infested those pa* ts, 



204 fox's book op martyrs. 

and been a terror to the neighbouring country." To give 
a greater colour to bis treachery, he published a proclama- 
tion to the same purpose, expressive of thanks to the citi- 
zens of Roras. 

The very day after, however, he sent five hundred men 
to take possession of the town, while the people, as he 
thoughi, were lulled into security by his artifice. 

Captain Gianavel, however, was not thus to be deceived; 
he, therefore, laid a second ambuscade for these troops 
and compelled them to retire with great loss. 

Foiled in these two attempts, the sanguinary marquis 
determined on a third, still more formidable ; but, with his 
usual duplicity, he published another proclamation, dis- 
owning any knowledge of the second attempt. 

He soon after sent seven hundred chosen men upon the 
expedition, who, in spite of the fire from the protestants, 
forced the defile, entered Roras, and began to murder 
every person they met with, without distinction of sex or 
age. Captain Gianaval, at the head of his friends, though 
he had lost the defile, determined to dispute the passage 
through a fortified pass that led to the richest and best part 
of the town. Here he succeeded, by keeping up a con- 
tinual fire, which did great execution, his men being all 
good marksmen. The Roman catholic commander was 
astonished and dismayed at this opposition, as he imagined 
that he had surmounted all difficulties. He, however, strove 
to force the pass, but being able to bring up only twelve 
men in front at a time, and the protestants being secured 
by a breastwork, he saw all his hopes frustrated. 

Enraged at the loss of so many of his troops, and 
fearful of disgrace if he persisted in attempting what 
appeared so impracticable, he thought it wiser to retreat. 
Unwilling, however, to withdraw his men by the defile 
at which he had entered, on account of the danger, he de- 
signed to retreat toward Villaro, by another pass called 
Piampra, which, though hard of access, was easy of descent. 
Here, however, he again felt the determined bravery of cap- 
tain Gianavel, who having posted his little band here 
greatly annoyed the troops as they passed, and even pur- 
sued their rear till they entered the open country. 

The marquis of Pianessa, finding all his attempts baf- 
fled, and all his artifices discovered, resolved to throw off 



205 

the mask ; and therefore proclaimed that ample rewards 
should be given to any who would bear arms against the 
obdurate heretics of Roras, and that any officer who would 
exterminate them, should be honoured accordingly. 

Captain Mario, a bigoted Roman catholic and a despe- 
rate ruffian, stimulated by this, resolved to undertake the 
enterprise. He, therefore, levied a regiment of one thou- 
sand men, and with these he resolved to attempt gaining 
the summit of a rock which commanded the town. But 
the protestants, aware of his design, suffered his trjops to 
proceed without molestation till they had nearly reached 
the summit of the rock, when they made a furious attack 
upon them ; one party keeping up a well-directed and 
constant fire, and others rolling down large stones. Thus 
were they suddenly stopped in their career. Many were 
killed by the musketry, and more by the stones, which 
beat them down the precipices. Several fell sacrifices to 
their own fears, for by attempting a precipitate retreat, 
they fell down and were dashed to pieces ; and cap- 
tain Mario himself, having fallen from a craggy place into 
a river at the foot of the rock, was taken up senseless, and 
after lingering some time expired. 

After this, another body of troops from the camp at Vil- 
laro made an attempt upon Roras, but were likewise de- 
feated and compelled to retreat to their camp. 

Captain Gianavel, for each of these signal victories, 
made a suitable discourse to his men, kneeling down with 
them to return thanks to the Almighty for his providentia. 
protection ; and concluding with the 11th psalm. 

The marquis of Pianessa, now enraged to the highest 
degree at being thus foiled by a handful of peasants, de- 
termined on their expulsion or destruction. 

To this end he ordered all the Roman catholic militia of 
Piedmont to be called out and disciplined. To these he 
joined eight thousand regular troops, and dividing the 
whole into three distinct bodies, he planned three formidable 
attacks to be made at once, unless the people of Roras, to 
whom he sent an account of his great preparations, would 
comply with the following conditions : 

To ask pardon for taking up arms. To pay the expenses 
of all the expeditions sent against them. To acknowledge 
*he infallibility of the pope. To go to mass, To pray to 
18 



§06 FO* § BOOK OF toARTYRS. 

the saints. To deliver up their ministers and schoolmas- 
ters. To go to confession. To pay loans for the delivery 
of souls from purgatory ; and to give up Captain Gianavei 
and the elders of the church at discretion. 

The brave inhabitants, indignant at these proposals, an- 
swered. " That sooner than comply with them they would 
suffer their estates to be seized, their houses to be burnt ; 
nd themselves to be murdered." 

Enraged at this, the marquis sent them the following la- 
conic letter : 

" To the obstinate Heretics of Roras. 

" You shall have your request, for the troops sent 
against you have strict injunctions to plunder, burn and 

kill. " PlANESSA." 

The three armies were accordingly put in motion, and 
the first attack ordered to be made by the rocks of Villaro ; 
the second by the pass of Bagnol ; and the third by the de- 
Hie of Lucerne. 

As might be expected, from the superiority of numbers, 
the troops gained the rocks, pass, and defile, entered the 
town, and commenced the most horrid depredations. Men 
they hanged, burnt, racked to death, or cut to pieces ; wo- 
men they ripped open, crucified, drowned, or threw from 
the precipices ; and children they tossed upon spears, 
minced, cut their throats, or dashed out their brains. On 
the first day of their gaining the town, one hundred and 
fwenty-six suffered in this manner. 

Agreeably to the orders of the marquis, they likewise 
plundered the estates, and burnt the houses of the people. 
Several protestants, however, made their escape, ander 
the conduct of the brave Gianavei, whose wife and children 
were unfortunately made prisoners, and sent to Turin under 
a strong guard. 

The marquis, thinking to conquer at least the mind of 
Gianavei, wrote him a letter, and released a protestant 
prisoner that he might carry it to him. The contents were, 
that if the captain would embrace the Roman catholic re- 
ligion, he should be indemnified for all his losses since the 
commencement of the war, his wife and children should 



foX's Cook of M.un \ ■;.-. 20? 

he immediately released, and himself honourably pro- 
moted in the duke of Savoy's army ; but if he refused tc 
accede to the proposals made to him, his wife and children 
should be put to death ; and so large a reward should be 
given to take him, dead or alive, that even some of his 
own confidential friends should, from the greatness of the 
sum, be tempted to betray him. 

To this Gianavel returned the following answer : 

" My Lord Marquis. 

" There is no torment so great, or death so cruel, that 
I would not prefer to. the abjuration of my religion ; so 
that promises lose their effects, and menaces do but strength- 
en me in my faith. 

" With respect to my wife and children, my lord, no- 
thing can be more afflicting to me than the thoughts of their 
confinement, or more dreadful to my imagination, than 
their sufferings and violent death. I keenly feel all the 
tender sensations of a husband and a parent ; I would suf- 
fer any torment to rescue them ; I would die to preserve 
them. 

" But having said thus much, my lord, I assure you that 
the purchase of their lives must not be the price of my 
salvation. You have them in your power it is true ; but 
my consolation is, that your power is only a temporary 
authority over their bodies : you may destroy the mortal 
part, but their immortal souls are out of your reach and 
will live hereafter to bear testimony against you for your 
cruelties. I therefore recommend them and myself to God, 
ftnd pray for a reformation in your heart. 

" Joshua Gianavel." 

He then with his followers retired to the Alps, where, 
being afterward joined by several protestant officers, with 
a considerable number of fugitive protestants, they con 
jointly defended themselves, and made several successfu 
attacks upon the Roman Catholic towns and forces ; carry 
ing terror by the valour of their exploits and the boldness of 
their enterprises. 

Nevertheless, the disproportion between their forces and 
those of their enemies was so great, that no reasonable ex- 
pectations could be entertained of their ultimate success , 



20S pox's book of martyrs. 

which induced many protectant princes and states, in va 
rious parts of Europe, to interest themselves in favour of 
these courageous sufferers for religious and civil liberty. 

Among these intercessors, the protestant cantons of Switz- 
erland early distinguished themselves ; and as their medi- 
ation was rejected by the duke of Savoy, they raised con- 
siderable sums of money, by private subscriptions, for the 
eliefofthe fugitives and the assistance of the brave de- 
fenders of their native valleys. Nor did they limit their 
kindness to pecuniary relief; they despatched a messenger 
to the United Provinces, for the purpose of procuring sub- 
scriptions, and the interference of the Dutch government 
in favour of the Piedmontese, both of which they at length 
obtained. They then made another attempt to prevail on 
the duke of Savoy to grant his protestant subjects liberty 
of conscience, and to restore them to their ancient privi- 
leges ; but this, after much evasion on the part of the duke, 
also failed. 

But that G-od whom they worshipped in purity of spirit, 
now raised them up a more powerful champion in the per- 
son of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England. This 
extraordinary man, however criminal in the means by 
which he obtained power, certainly deserves the praise of 
having exercised it with dignity and firmness ; and if his 
usurpation be censured, it must be acknowledged that he 
raised England to a station among the neighbouring 
powers to which it had never before attained. From the 
throne which he had just seized, he dictated to the most 
potent monarchs of Europe ; and never was his influence 
more justly exercised than in behalf of the persecuted 
proteslants of Piedmont. He caused subscriptions to be 
set on foot throughout England in their favour ; he sent ar. 
envoy to the court of France, and wrote to all the pro- 
testant powers of Europe, to interest them in the same 
good cause. He despatched an ambassador to the court of 
Turin, who was received with great respect by the duke, 
who pretended to justify his treatment of the Piedmon- 
tese, under the pretence of their being rebellious. 

But Cromwell would not suffer himself to be trifled 
with : his ambassador gave the duke to understand that if 
negociation failed, arms would be had recourse to : and as 
the kings of Denmark and Sweden, the Dutch government 



POX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 209 

and many of the German states, encouraged by the exam- 
ple of the Protector, now came forward in the same cause, 
the duke found himself under the necessity of dismissing 
the English ambassador, with a very respectful message to 
his master, assuring him that " the persecutions had been 
much misrepresented and exaggerated: and that they had 
been occasioned by his rebellious subjects themselves : 
nevertheless, to show his great respect for his highness he 
would pardon them, and restore them to their former pri- 
vileges." 

This was accordingly done ; and the protestants returned 
to their homes, grateful for the kindness that had been 
shown to them, and praising the name of the Lord who is 
as a tower of strength to those who put their trust in him. 

During the lifetime of Cromwell, they lived in peace 
and security ; but no sooner had his death relieved the 
papists from the terror of his vengeance, than they began 
anew to exercise that cruel and bigoted spirit which is in- 
herent in popery : and although the persecutions were not 
avowedly countenanced by the court, they were connived 
at and unpunished: insomuch that whatever injury had 
been inflicted on a protestant, he could obtain no redress 
from the corrupted judges to whom he applied for that 
protection which the laws nominally granted to him. 
* At length in the year 1686, all the treaties in favour of 
the protestants were openly violated, by the publication of 
an edict prohibiting the exercise of any religion but the 
Roman catholic, on pain of death. 

The protestants petitioned for a repeal of this crusl 
edict : and their petitions were backed by their ancient 
friends the protestant cantons of Switzerland. But the 
cries of his subjects, and the intercession of their allies, 
were equally unavailing ; the duke replied that " his en- 
gagements with France obliged him to extirpate the here- 
tics from Piedmont." 

Finding supplications useless, the protestants flew to 
arms ; and being attacked by the duke's army and some 
French troops, on the 22d of April, 1686, they, after an 
obstinate engagement of several hours, obtained a com- 
plete victory, killing great numbers of the French and 
Savoyards. 

Exasperated by this defeat, the duke immediately col- 
18* 



lected a large army, which he augmented with a reinforce 
ruent of French and Swiss troops ; and was so successfu 
in several engagements against the protectants, that the 
latter, despairing of success, consented to lay down then 
arms and quit the country, on his solemn promise of safety 
for themselves, their families, and property. 

No sooner were they disarmed, than the treacherous 

papists, acting upon their maxim that no faith is to be kept 

with heretics, massacred a large body of them, in cold 

blood, without distinction of age or sex : and burnt and 

avaged the country in every direction. 

The horrors perpetrated by these faithless and bigoted 
monsters almost exceed belief. We will not weary and 
disgust our readers with the recital : suffice it to say, that 
every variety of rapine, lust, and cruelty, was exhausted 
by these demons in human shape. Those protestants who 
were fortunate enough to escape, found an asylum in the 
Swiss cantons and in Germany, where they were treated 
kindly and lands granted to them for their residence. 

The natural consequence of these horrible proceedings 
was, that the fruitful valleys of Piedmont were depopulated 
and desolate ; and the barbarous monster who had caused 
this devastation, now feeling its ill effects, tried, by all 
means in his power, to draw Roman Catholic families from 
all parts of Europe, to repeople the valleys, and to culti- 
vate the fields which had been blasted by the malignant 
breath of bigotry. 

Some of the exiles, in the meanwhile, animated by that 
love of country which glows with peculiar warmth in their 
breasts, determined to make an attempt to regain a part 
of their native valleys, or to perish in the attempt. Ac- 
cordingly, nine hundred of them, who had resided during 
their exile near the lake of Geneva, crossing it in tht 
night, entered Savoy without resistance, and seizing two 
villages obtained provisions, for which they paid, and im- 
mediately passed the river Arve, before the duke had notice 
of their arrival in the country. 

When he became acquainted with this, he was asto- 
nished at the boldness of the enterprise, and despatched 
troops to guard the defiles and passes ; which, however, 
were all forced by the protestants, and great numbers of 
the Savoyard troops defeated. 



POX'S BOOK OF MARTYRfe. 211 

Alarmed by this intelligence and still more by a report 
that a great body of the exiles was advancing from Branden- 
burg to support those already in Savoy, and that many pro- 
lestant state*-, meant to assist them in their attempts to re- 
gain a footing in their native country, the duke published 
an edict by which ho restored them to all their former 
privileges. 

This just and humane conduct was, however, so dis- 
pleasing to that bigoted and ferocious tyrant, Louis XIV. 
of France, that he sent an order to the duke of Savoy to 
extirpate every protestant in his dominions ; and to assist 
him in the execution of this horrible project, or to punish 
him if he were unwilling to engage in it, M. Catinet was 
despatched at the head of an army of 16,000 men. This 
insolent dictation irritated the duke ; he determined no 
longer to be the slave of the French king, and solicited 
the aid of the emperor of Germany and the king of Spain, 
who sent large bodies of troops to his assistance. Being 
also joined, at his own request, by the protestant army, he 
hesitated no longer to declare war against France ; and in 
the campaign which followed, his protestant subjects were 
of infinite service by their valour and resolution. The 
French troops were at length driven from Piedmont, and 
the heroic protestants were reinstated in their former pos- 
sessions, their ancient privileges confirmed, and many new 
ones granted to them. The exiles now returned from 
Germany and Switzerland ; and were accompanied by 
many French refugees, whom the cruel persecutions of 
Louis had driven from their native land in search of the 
toleration denied to them at home. But this infuriated 
bigot, not yet glutted with revenge, insisted on their being 
expelled from Piedmont ; and the duke of Savoy, anxious 
for peace, was compelled to comply with thif merciless de- 
mand, before the French king would sign the treaty. The 
wanderers, thus driven from the south of Europe, sought 
and found an asylum from the hospitality of the elector of 
Brandenburg, and consoled themselves for the loss of a 
genial climate and a delightful country, in the enjoyment of 
the more substantial blessings of liberty of conscience and 
;ecurity of property. 



212 fox's book of martyrs 

PART V. 

Causes which led to the Reformation, 

i 

CHAPTER I. 

Usurpation of the Popes during the Middle Ages. 

In the preceding pages we have had occasion to treat ot 
the rise and progress of popery, from the commencement 
of its usurpations to the tenth century. From this period, 
till the reformation was attempted by Wickliffe, the abomi- 
nations of these arch and unchristian heretics increased 
with rapid strides, till at length all the sovereigns of Eu- 
rope were compelled to do them the most servile homage. 
It was in the reign of Edgar, king of England, that monks 
were first made spiritual ministers, though contrary to the 
decrees and custom of the church ; and in the time of this 
sovereign they were allowed to marry, there being no law 
fir bidding it, before the papacy of Gregory VII. 

To relate the tyrannical innovations upon the religion 
of Christ during the space of more than three hundred 
years, would be the province of a writer on church history, 
and is quite incompatible with our limits. Suffice it to say, 
that scarcely a foreign war or civil broil convulsed Europe 
during that period, which did not originate in the infernal 
artifices of popes, monks, and friars. They frequently fell 
victims to their own machinations ; for, from the year 1004, 
many popes died violent deaths : several were poisoned ; 
Sylvester was cut to pieces by his own people ; and the 
reigns of his successors were but short. Benedict, who 
succeeded John XXI., thought proper to resist the empe- 
ror Henry III., and place in his room Peter, king of Hun- 
gary ; but afterward being alarmed by the success of 
Henry, he sold his seat to Gratianus, called Gregory VI. 
At this time there were three popes in Rome, all striving 
against each other for the supreme power, viz. : Benedict 
IX., Sylvester III., and Gregory VI. But the emperor 
Henry, coming +o Rome, displaced these three monsters at 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 213 

once, and appointed Clement the Second : enacting that 
henceforth no bishop of Rome should be chosen but by the 
consent of the emperor. Though this law was necessary 
for public tranquillity, yet it interfered too much with the 
ambitious views of the cardinals, who accordingly exerted 
themselves to get it repealed ; and failing in this, on the 
departure of the emperor for Germany, they poisoned 
Clement, and at once violated the law by choosing another 
pope, without the imperial sanction. 

This was Damascus II., who being also poisoned, within 
a few days from his appointment, much contention took 
place. Whereupon the Romans sent to the emperor, de- 
siring him to give them a bishop; upon which he selected 
Bruno, a German, called Leo IX. This pope was also 
poisoned in the first year of his popedom. 

After his death Theophylactus made an effort to be pope, 
but Hildebrand, to defeat him, went to the emperor, and 
persuaded him to assign another bishop, a German, who as- 
cended the papal chair under the title of Victor II. 

The second year of his papacy, this pope also followed 
his predecessors, like them being poisoned. 

On the death of Victor, the cardinals elected Stephen 
IX. for pope, contrary to their oath, and the emperor's as- 
signment. From this period, indeed, their ascendency was 
so great that the most powerful sovereigns of Europe were 
obliged to do them homage ; and Nicholas, who succeeded 
Stephen, established the council of the Lateran. 

In this council first was promulgated the terrible sentence 
of excommunication against all such as " do creep into 
the seat of Peter by money or favour, without the full 
consent of the cardinals ;" cursing them and their children 
with the anger of Almighty God ; and giving authority and 
power to cardinals, with the clergy and laity, to depose 
all such persons, and call a council general, wheresoever 
they will against them 

Pope Nicholas only reigned three years and a half, and 
then, like his predecessors, was poisoned. 



214 

Submission of the Emperor Henri/ IV. to the Pope 



To such a height had papal insolence now attained, tha. 
on the emperor Henry IV. refusing to submit to some de 
crees of pope Gregory VII., the latter excommunicate*, 
turn, and absolved all his subjects from their oath of alle- 
giance to him ; on this he was deserted by the nobility, 
and dreading the consequences, though a brave man, he 
found it necessary to make his submission. He accordingly 
repaired to the city of Canusium, where the pope then 
was, and went barefooted with his wife and child to the 
gate ; where he remained from morning to night fasting, 
humbly desiring absolution, and craving to be let in. But 
no ingress being given him, he coutinued thus three days 
together; at length answer came, that his holiness had yet no 
leisure to talk with him. The emperor patiently waited with- 
out the walls, though in the depth of winter. At length his re- 
quest was granted, through the entreaties of Matilda, the 
pope's paramour. On the fourth day, being let in, for a 
token of his true repentance, he yielded to the popeV 
hands his crown, and confessed himself unworthy of the 
empire, if he ever again offended against the pope, desir- 
.ng for that time to be absolved and forgiven. The pope 
answered, he would neither forgive him, norrelease the bond 
of his excommunication, but upon condition that he would 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 215 

abide by his arbitrament in the council, and undergo such 
penance as he should enjoin him ; that he should answer 
to all objections and accusations laid against him, and that 
lie should never seek revenge ; that it should be at the 
pope's pleasure whether his kingdom should be restored or 
not. Finally, that before the trial of his cause, he should 
neither use his kingly ornaments, nor usurp the authority 
to govern, nor to exact any oath of allegiance from his sub- 
jects, &c. These things being promised to the pope by 
an oath, the emperor was released upon from excommuni- 
cation. 

King John surrenders his Crown to the Pope. 

The ascendency of the popes was never more fully evin- 
ced than by a remarkable fact in the history of England. 
King John having incurred the hatred of his barons and 
people by his cruel and tyrannical measures, they took arms 
against him, and offered the crown to Louis, son of the 
French king. By seizing the possessions of the clergy, 
John had also fallen under the displeasure of the pope, 
who accordingly laid the kingdom under an interdict, and 
absolved his subjects from their allegiance. Alarmed at 
this the tyrant earnestly sued for peace with his holiness, 
hoping by his mediation to obtain favourable terms from 
the barons, or by his thunders to terrify them into submis- 
sion. He made the most abject supplications, and the 
pope, ever willing to increase the power of the church, 
sent cardinal Pandulf as legate to the king at Canterbury, 
to whom John resigned his crown and dominions ; and the 
cardinal, after retaining the crown five days in token of 
possession, returned it to the king on condition of his 
making a yearly payment of one thousand marks to the 
court of Rome, and holding the dominions of England and 
Ireland in farm from the pope. 

• But if John expected any benefit from this most disgrace- 
ful transaction, he was disappointed ; and instead of enjoy- 
ing the crown which he had so basely surrendered and re- 
ceived again, the short remainder of his life was disturbed 
by continual insurrections, and he at last either died of 
grief, or by poison administered to him by a monk of the 
convent of Swinezhead in Lincolnshire. The latter cause 



216 fox's bojk of martyrs. 

assigned by many historians, and we are told that the king, 
suspecting some fruit, which was presented to him at the 
above convent to be poisoned, ordered the monk who brough; 
it to eat of it, which he did, and died in a few hours after. 

An Emperor trodden underfoot by t/ie Pope. 

The papal usurpations 'were extended to every part of 
Europe. In Germany, the emperor Frederic was com- 
pelled to submit to be trodden under the feet of Pope 
Alexander, and dared not make any resistance. In Eng- 
land, however, a spirit of resentment broke out in various 
reigns, in consequence of the oppressions and horrible con- 
duct of those anti-christian blasphemers, which continued 
with moie or less violence till the time of the great Wick- 
liffe, of whom we shall speak more fully in the following 
pages. 

Account of Wickliffe, and of the Martyrs who suffere 
in defence of his Doctrines. 

The first attempts made in England toward the reforma 
tion of the church, took place in the reign of Edward III. 
about A. d. 1350, when John WicklhTe appeared. This 
early star of the English churcli was public reader of di- 
vinity in the university of Oxford, and by the learned of 
his day, was accounted deeply versed in theology, and all 
kinds of philosophy. This even his adversaries allowed, 
as Walden, his bitterest enemy, writing to pope Martin, 
says, that he was wonderfully astonished at his strong ar 
guments, with the places of authority which he had gather 
ed, with the vehemence and force of his reasons, &c. Al 
the time of his appearance the greatest darkness pervaded 
the church. Scarcely any thing but the name of Chris 
remained ; his true doctrine being as far unknown to the 
most part, as his name was common to all. As to faith, con- 
solation, the end and use of the law, the office of Christ 
our impotency and weakness, the greatness and strength 
of sin, of true works, grace, and free justification by faith, 
wherein Christianity consists, they were cither unknown 
or disregarded. Scripture learning and divinity were 
known but to a few t and that in the schools onlv where 



pox's book of martyrs. 217 

they were turned and converted into sophistry. Instead 
of Peter and Paul, men occupied their time in studying 
Aquinas and Scotus ; and, forsaking the lively power of 
God's spiritual word and doctrine, were altogether led and 
blinded with outward ceremonies and human traditions, in- 
somuch that scarcely any other thing was seen in the 
churches, taught or spoken of in sermons, or intended or 
sought after in their whole lives, but the heaping up of 
ceremonies upon ceremonies ; and the people were taught 
to worship no other thing but that which they saw, and al- 
most all they saw they worshipped. But WicklhTe was 
inspired with a purer sense of religion ; and knowing it to 
be his duty to impart the gracious blessing to others, he 
published his belief with regard to the several articles of 
religion in which he differed from the common doctrine. 
Pope Gregory XL, hearing this, condemned some of his 
tenets, and commanded the archbishop of Canterbury and 
the bishop of London to oblige him to subscribe the con- 
demnation of them ; and in case of refusal, to summon 
him to Rome. This commission could not easily be exe- 
cuted, WicklhTe having powerful friends, the chief of whom 
was John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, son of Edward 
III. The archbishop holding a synod at St. Paul's, Wick- 
liffe appeared, accompanied by the duke of Lancaster and 
lord Percy, marshal of England, when a dispute arising 
whether Wickliffe should answer sitting or standing, the 
duke of Lancaster proceeded to threats, and treated the 
bishop with very little ceremony. The people present 
thinking the bishop in danger, sided with him, so that the 
duke and the earl marshal thought it prudent to retire, and 
to take Wickliffe with them. After this an insurrection 
ensued, the clergy and their emissaries spreading a report 
that the duke of Lancaster had persuaded ihe king to take 
away the privileges of the city of London, &c, which, 
fired the people to such a degree that they broke open tbe 
Marshalsea, and freed all the prisoners ; and not content- 
ed with this, a vast number of them went to the diiKes 
palace in the Savoy, when missing his person, they plun- 
dered his house. For this outrage the duke of Lancaster 
caused the lord mayor and aldermen to be removed frcii 
their offices, imagining that they had not used the r auth' - 
rity to quell the mutineers. After this the bishoi s m© '■£* 
19 



218 

mg a second time, Wickliffe explained to them his senti- 
ments with regard to the sacrament of the eucharist, in 
opposition to the belief of the papists ; for which the 
bishops only enjoined him silence, not daring at that time 
to proceed to greater extremities against him. 

Wickliffe Translates the Bible. 

Wickliffe paying less regard to the injunctions of the 
jishops than to his duty to God, continued to promulgate 
his doctrines, and gradually to unveil the truth to the eyes 
of men. He wrote several books, which, as may be sup- 
posed, gave great alarm and offence to the clergy. But 
God raising him up a protector in the duke of Lancaster, 
he was secure from their malice. He translated the Bible 
into English, which amid the ignorance of the times, may 
be compared to the sun breaking forth in a dark night. To 
this Bible he prefixed a bold preface, wherein he reflected 
on the immoralities of the clergy, and condemned the wor- 
ship of saints, images, and the corporal presence of Christ 
in the sacrament : but what gave the greatest offence to 
the priests, was, his exhorting all people to read the scrip- 
tures, in which the testimonies against all those corruptions 
appeared so strongly. 

About the same time the common people, goaded to des 
peration by the oppressions of the nobility and clergy, rose 
in arms and committed great devastation ; and, among 
other persons of distinction, they put to death Simon of 
Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury. He was succeeded 
by William Courtney, who was no less diligent than his 
predecessor had been in attempting to root out heretics. 
Notwithstanding all opposition, however, Wickliffe's sect 
increased, and daily grew to greater force, until the time 
that William Barton, vice-chancellor of Oxford, who had 
the whole rule of that university, assisted by some monas- 
tic doctors, issued an edict, prohibiting all persons under a 
heavy penalty, from associating themselves with any of 
Wickliffe's favourers ; and threatening Wickliffe himself 
with excommunication and imprisonment, unless he, aftei 
three days canonical admonition or warning, did repent 
and amend. Upon this Wickliffe wished to appeal to the 
Kng, but the duke of Lancaster forbade him ; where* 



fox's book of martyrs. 219 

upon he was forced again to make confession of his doc- 
trine ; in which confession, hy qualifying his assertions, lie 
mitigated the rigour of his enemies. 

Still his followers greatly multiplied. Many of them, 
indeed, were not men of learning ; but being wrought upon 
by the conviction of plain reason, they were the more 
steadfast in their persuasion. In a short time his doctrines 
made a great progress, being not only espoused by vast 
numbers of the students of Oxford, but also by many of 
the nobility, particularly by the duke of Lancaster and 
lord Percy, earl marshal, as before mentioned. 

Wickliffe may thus be considered as the great founder 
of the reformation in England. He was of Morton col- 
lege in Oxford, where he took his doctor's degree, and 
became so eminent for his fine genious and great learning 
that Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, having found- 
ed Canterbury college, now Christ church, in Oxford, ap- 
pointed him rector ; which employment he filled with uni- 
versal approbation, till the death of the archbishop. Lang- 
holm, successor to Islip, being desirous of favouring the 
monks, and introducing them into the college, attempted to 
remove Wickliffe, and put Woodhall, a monk, in his place. 
But the fellows of the college being attached to Wickliffe, 
would not consent to this. Nevertheless, the affair being 
carried to Rome Wickliffe was deprived in favour of Wood- 
hall. This did not at all lessen the reputation of the for- 
mer, every one perceiving it was a general affair, and that 
the monks did not so much strike at Wickliffe's person, as 
at all the secular priests who were members of the college. 
And, indeed, they were all turned out to make room for 
the monks. Shortly after Wickliffe was presented to the 
living of Lutterworth, in the county of Leicester, where 
he remained unmolested till his death, which happened De- 
cember 31, 1385. But after the body of this good man 
had lain in the grave forty-one years, his bones were taken 
up by the decree of the synod of Constance, publicly burn! 
and his ashes thrown into a river. The condemnation of 
his doctrine did not prevent its spreading all over the king- 
dom, and with such success, that according to Spelman, 
" two men could not be found together, and one not a Lol- 
lard or Wickliffite." 



Tenets of Wickliffe. 

The following are among the articles of Wickliffe which 
were condemned as heretical: 

The substance of material bread and wine doth remain 
in the sacrament of the altar after the consecration. 

The accidents do not remain v ithout the subject in the 
same sacrament, after the consecration. 

That Christ is not in the sacrament of the altar truly 
and really, in his proper and corporal person. 

That if a bishop or a priest be in deadly sin, he doth 
not order, consecrate, nor baptize. 

That if a man be duly and truly contrite and penitent, 
all exterior and outer confession is but superfluous and un- 
profitable unto him. 

That it is not found or established by the gospel, that 
Christ did make or ordain mass. 

If the pope be a reprobate and evil man, and conse- 
quently a member of the devil, he hath no power by any 
manner of means given unto him over faithful Christians. 

That since the time of Urban the Sixth, there is none 
to be received for pope, but every man is to live after the 
manner of the Greeks, under his own law. 

That it is against the scriptures, that ecclesiastical mi- 
nisters should have any temporal possessions. 

That no prelate ought to excommunicate any man ex- 
cept he knew him first to be excommunicate of God. 

That he who doth so excommunicate any man, is thereby 
himself either a heretic or excommunicated. 

That all such which do leave off preaching or hearing 
the word of God, or preaching of the gospel for fear of 
excommunication, they are already excommunicated, and 
in the day of judgment shall be counted as traitors unto 
God. 

That it is lawful for any man either deacon or priest, to 
oreach the word of God, without authority or license of 
the apostolic see or any other of his catholics. 

That so long as a man is in deadly sin, he is neither 
bishop nor prelate in the church of God. 

Wickliffe wrote several works, which in the year 1410 
were burnt at Oxford, the abbot of Shrewsbury being then 



fox's book of martyrs. 221 

commissary. And in Bohemia, likewise, his books were 
burnt by the archbishop of Prague. 

Burning of the Wicklijfites. 

the council of the Lateran, a decree was made with re- 
gard to heretics, which required all magistrates to extirpate 
ihem upon pain of forfeiture and deposition. The canons 
of this council being received in England, the prosecution 
of heretics became a part of the common law ; and a writ 
(styled de heretico comburendo) was issued, under king 
Henry IV. for burning: them upon their conviction : and it 
was enacted, that all who presumed to preach without the 
license of the bishops should be imprisoned, and be brought 
to trial within three months. If, upon conviction, they 
offered to abjure, and were not relapses, they were to be 
imprisoned and fined at pleasure ; but if they refused to 
abjure, or were relapses, they were to be delivered over to 
the secular arm : and the magistrates were to burn them in 
some public place. About this time William Sautre, parish 
priest of St. Osith in London, being condemned as a re- 
lapse, and degraded by Arundel, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, a writ was issued, wherein burning is called the com- 
mon punishment, and referring to the customs of other 
nations. This was the first example of that sort in Eng- 
land. 

The clergy alarmed lest the doctrines of Wickliffe 
should ultimately become established, used every exertion 
in their power to check them. In the reign of Richard II. 
the bishops had obtained a general license to imprison 
heretics, without being obliged to procure a special order 
from court, which however the house of commons caused 
to be revoked. But as the fear of imprisonment could 
not check the pretended evil dreaded by the Bishops, 
Henry IV., whose particular object was to secure the af- 
fection of the clergy, earnestly recommended to the par- 
liament the concerns of the church. How reluctant so- 
ever the house of commons might be to prosecute the Lol- 
lards, the credit of the court, and the cabals of the clergy, 
at last obtained a most detestable act, for the burning of 
obstinate heretics ; which bloody statute was not repealed 
till the year 1677. It was immediately after the passing 
19* 



222 

of this statute that the ecclesiastical court condemned 
William Sautre above mentioned. 

Increase of Wickliffe's Doctrine. 

Notwithstanding the opposition of the popish clergy, 
VVickliffe's doctrine continued to spread greatly in Henry 
IV.'s reign, even to such a degree, that the majority 
of the house of commons were inclined to it ; whence they 
presented two petitions to the king, one against the clergy 
and the other in favour of the Lollards. The first set 
forth, that the clergy made ill use of their wealth, and 
consumed their income in a manner quite different from 
the intent of the donors ; that their revenues were excess- 
ive, and consequently that it would be necessary to lessen 
them ; that so many estates might easily be seized as 
would provide for 150 earls at the rate of 3000 marks a 
year each, 1500 barons at 100 marks each, 6200 knights 
at 40 marks, and 100 hospitals ; that by this means the 
safety of the kingdom might be better provided for, the 
poor better maintained, and the clergy more devoted to 
their duty. In the second petition the commons prayed, 
that the statute passed against the Lollards, in the second 
year of this reign, might be repealed, or qualified with 
some restrictions. As it was the king's interest to please 
the clergy, he answered the commons very sharply, that 
he neither could nor would consent to their petitions. And 
with regard to the Lollards, he declared he wished the 
heretics were extirpated out of the land. To prove the 
truth of this, he signed a warrant for burning Thomas 
Badby. 

Martyrdom of Thomas Badby in the year 1409. 

Thomas Badby was a layman, and by trade a tailor. He 
was arraigned in the year 1409, on the charge of heresy, 
for having embraced the sentiments of Wickliffe. Though 
standing as it were alone, he made a bold declaration of his 
r aith, and exclaimed against the idolatry and impious prac- 
tices of the Roman church ; though his life was promised 
him, together with an annual pension out of the king's 
treasury, on condition of recanting, he nobly rejected the 



fox's book of martyrs. 223 

oflre, and died like a faithful soldier of Christ, commend- 
ing his soul to his care. He was burned in a tub at Smith- 
field. 




Martyrdom of John Badby. 

Martyrdom of Sir John Oldcastle. 



The persecutions of the Lollards in the reign of Hen' y 
V., were owing to the cruel instigations of the clergy, wl io 
thought that the most effectual way to check the progre ss 
of Wickliffe's doctrine, would be to attack the then ch'* »f 
protector of it, viz. : Sir John Oldcastle, baron of Cob- 
ham ; and to persuade the king that the Lollards were en- 
gaged in conspiracies to overturn the state. It was even 
reported that they intended to murder the king, together 
with the princes, his brothers, and most of the lords spiri- 
tual and temporal, in hopes that the confusion which must 
necessarily arise in the kingdom, after such a massacre, 
would prove favourable to their religion. Upon this a false 
rumour was spread, that Sir John Oldcastle had got toge- 
ther 20,000 men in St. Giles' in the Fields, a place then 
overgrown with bushes. The king himself went thither at 
midnight, and finding no more than fourscore or a hundred 
persons, who were privately met upon a religious account, 
he fell upon them and killed many. Some of them being 



afterward examined, were prevailed upon, by promises or 
threats, to confess whatever their enemies desired ; and 
these accused Sir John Oldcastle. 

The king hereupon thought him guilty ; and in that be- 
lief set a thousand marks upon his head, with a promise oi 
perpetual exemption from taxes to any town which should 
secure him. Sir John was apprehended and imprisoned in 
the Tower ; but escaping from thence he fled into Wales, 
where he long concealed himself. But being afterward 
seized in Powisland, in North Wales, by lord Powis, he 
was brought to London, to the great joy of the clergy, 
who were highly incensed against him, and resolved to sa- 
crifice him, to strike a terror into the rest of the Lollards. 
Sir John was of a very good family, had been sheriff of 
ertfordshire under Henry IV., and summoned to parlia- 
ment among the barons of the realm in that reign. He 
had been sent beyond the sea, with the earl of Arundel, 
to assist the duke of Burgundy against the French. In a 
word, he was a man of extraordinary merit, notwithstand- 
ing which he was condemned to be hanged up by the waist 
with a chain, and burnt alive. This most barbarous sen- 
tence was executed amid the curses and imprecations of 
the priests and monks, who used their utmost endeavours 
to prevent the people from praying for him. Such was 
the tragical end of Sir John Oldcastle, who left the world 
with a resolution and constancy that answered perfectly 
to the brave spirit with which he had ever maintained the 
cause of truth and of his God. 

Not satisfied with his single death, the clergy induced the 
parliament to make fresh statutes against the Lollards. It 
was enacted among other things that whosoever read the 
scriptures in English should forfeit land, chattels, goods, 
and life, and be condemned as heretics to God, enemies 
to the crown, and traitors to the kingdom ; that they shouM 
not have the benefit of any sanctuary ; and that, if they 
continued obstinate, or relapsed after being pardoned, 
they should first be hanged for treason against the king, 
and then burned for heresy against God. This act was 
no sooner passed, but a violent persecution was raised 
against the Lollards ; several of them were burnt alive, 
some fled the kingdom, and others were weak enough to 



fox's book of martyrs. 225 

abjure their religion, to escape the torments prepared foi 
them. 



CHAPTER IL 

Great Schism in the Church of Rome. 

A circumstance occured at this period, by the provi- 
dence of God, which greatly tended to facilitate the pro- 
gress of truth. This was a great schism in the church o. 
Rome, which originated as follows : After the death of 
Gregory XL, who expired in the midst of his anxiety to 
crush WicklirTe and his doctrines, Urban the Sixth suc- 
ceeded to the papal chair. This pope was so proud and 
insolent, and so intent, on the advancement of his nephews 
and kindred, which he frequently accomplished by injuring 
other princes, that the greatest number of his cardinals 
and courtiers deserted him, and set up another pope against 
him, named Clement, who reigned eleven years. After 
him Benedict the Thirteenth, who reigned twenty-six years. 
Again, on the contrary side, after Urban the Sixth, suc- 
ceeded Boniface the Ninth, Innocent the Eighth, Gregory 
the Twelfth, Alexander the Fifth, and John the Thirteenth. 
To relate all the particulars of this miserable schism, 
would requre volumes ; we shall merely take notice of a 
few of the principal occurrences from which the reader may 
form an idea of the bloodshed and misery brought on the 
Christian world by the ambition and wickedness of these 
pretended representatives of our blessed Saviour ; and may 
judge how widely they departed from his blessed maxims 
of peace and good will to all men. Otho, duke of Bruns- 
wick and prince of Tarentum, was taken and murdered. 
Joan, his wife, queen of Jerusalem and Sicily, who had 
sentto pope Urban, beside other gifts, 40,000 ducats in 
gold, was afterward, by his order, committed to prison, and 
there strangled. Many cardinals were racked and tor- 
tured to death ; battles were fought between the rival 
popes, in which great multitudes were slain. Five cardinals 
were beheaded together, after long torments. The bishop 
of Aquilonensis being suspected by pope Urban, for not 



22$ roVs feook ot^ MAHtm 

riding faster when in his company, was slain on the spot 
by the pope's order. Thus did these demons in human 
form torment each other for the space of thirty-nine years, 
until the council of Constance. 

Progress of the Reformation in the Reign of Henri/ VIII 

The reader will doubtless attend to the transactions re- 
corded in this reign, with peculiar interest. It was in this 
period that God, through the instrumentality of the king 
liberated England from the papal yoke, and it became as 
it were a religious world dependant on itself. 

The wars between the two houses of York and Lancas- 
ter had produced such fatal revolutions, and thrown Eng- 
land into such frequent convulsions, that the nation, with 
great joy, hailed the accession of Henry VII., to the 
throne, who being himself descended from the house of 
Lancaster, by his marriage with the heiress of the house 
of York, freed them from the fear of any further civil 
wars. But the covetousness of his temper, the severity 
of his ministers, and his jealousy of the house of York, 
made him so generally odious to his people, that his death 
was little lamented. 

Henry VIII. succeeded, with all the advantages he 
could have desired ; and his disgracing Empson and Dud- 
ley, the cruel ministers of his father's avaricious designs, 
his appointing restitution to be made of the sums that had 
been unjustly exacted of the people, and his ordering jus- 
tice to be done on those rapacious ministers, gave all peo- 
ple hopes of happy times ; and when ministers by the 
king's orders were condemned and executed for invading 
the liberties of the people, under the covert of the king's 
prerogative, it made the nation conclude that they should 
hereafter live secure under the protection of such a prince, 
and that the violent remedies of parliamentary judgments 
should be no more necessary, except as in this case, to 
confirm what had been done before in the ordinary courts 
of justice. 

The king also, either from the magnificence of his own 
temper, or the observation he had made of the ill effects 
of his father's parsimony, distributed his rewards and lai- 
gesses with an unmeasured bounty ; so that he quickly 



fox's BOOK OF MARTYRS. 227 

expended those treasures, which his father had left ; but 
till the ill effects of this appeared, it raised in his court 
and subjects the greatest hopes possible of a prince whose 
first actions showed an equal mixture of justice and ge- 
nerosity. 

The king had been educated with more than ordinary 
care : learning being then in its dawning, after a night of 
long and gross ignorance, his father having given orders that 
both his elder brother and he should be well instructed in 
matters of knowledge. The learning then most in credit 
among the clergy was the scholastical divinity, which, by 
a show of subtlety, recommended itself to curious persons ; 
and being very suitable to a vain and contentious temper, 
agreed best with his disposition ; and further, it being 
likely to draw the most flattery, became the chief subjett 
of his studies, in which he grew not only to be eminent for 
a prince, but he might really have passed for a learned 
man had his quality been never so mean. He delighted 
in the purity of the Latin tongue, and understood philoso- 
phy, and was so great a master in music, that he composed 
well. He was a bountiful patron to all learned men, more 
>articularly to Erasmus and Polydore Virgil, and delighted 
much in those returns which hungry scholars make to 
liberal princes ; for he loved flattery out of measure, and 
he had enough of it to have surfeited a man of any modesty; 
for all the world, both at home and abroad, contended 
who should exceed most indecently in setting out his 
praises. The clergy carried it ; for as he had merited 
most at their hands, both by espousing the interests of the 
papacy, and by his entering the lists with Luther, so those 
that hoped to be advanced by those arts, were as little 
ashamed in magnifying him out of measure, as he was in 
receiving their gross commendations. 

Character of Cardinal Wolsey. 

One of the most remarkable men of this, or perhaps of 
any other age, was Cardinal Wolsey. He was of mean 
extraction, but possessed great abilities, and had a won- 
derful dexterity in insinuating himself into men's favour. 
He had but a little time been introduced to the king before 
he obtained an entire ascendency over him, and the direc- 



223 

tion of all his affairs, and for fifteen years continued to be 
the most absolute favourite ever known in England. He 
saw the king was much set on his pleasures and had a 
great aversion to business, and the other counsellors being 
unwilling to bear the load of affairs, were troublesome to 
him, by pressing him to govern by his own counsels ; but 
Wolsey knew the methods of favourites better, and so was 
not only easy, but assistant to the king in his pleasures, 
and undertook to free him from the trouble of government, 
and to give him leisure to follow his appetites. 

He was master of all the offices at home, and treaties 
abroad, so that all affairs went as he directed them. He 
soon became obnoxious to parliaments, and therefore tried 
but one during his ministry, where the supply was granted 
so scantily, that afterward he chose rather to raise money 
by loans and benevolences, than by the free gift of the 
people in parliament. He in time became so scandalous 
for his ill life, that he grew to be a disgrace to his profes- 
sion ; for he not only served the king, but also shared 
with him in his pleasures. He was first made bishop oi 
Tournay in Flanders, then of Lincoln, after that he was 
promoted to the see of York, and had both the abbey of 
St. Albans, and the bishopric of Bath and Wells in com- 
mendam ; the last he- afterward exchanged for Duresm, 
and upon Fox's death he quitted Duresm, that he might 
take Winchester ; and besides all this, the king by a spe- 
cial grant gave him power to dispose of all the ecclesias- 
tical preferments in England ; so that in effect he was the 
pope of the British world, and no doubt but he copied 
skilfully enough after those patterns that were set him at 
Rome. Being made a cardinal, and setting up a legatine 
court, he found it fit for his ambition to have the great 
seal likewise, that there might be no clashing between 
those two jurisdictions. He had in one word, all the qua- 
lities necessary for a great minister, and all the vices usual 
in a great favourite. 

The manner of promotion to bishoprics and abbeys was 
then the same that had taken place ever since the investi- 
tures by the ring and staff were taken out of the hands of 
princes. Upon a vacancy the king seized on all the tem- 
poralities, and granted a license for an election, with a 
special recommendation of the person ; who being re 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



229 



turned, the royal assent was given, and it was sent to 
Rome, that bulls might be procured, and then the bishop 
elect was consecrated : after that he came to the king, 
and renounced every clause in his bulls that was contrary 
to the king's prerogative or to the law, and swore fealty . 
and then were the temporalities restored. Nor could bulk 
be sued out at Rome without a license under the great 
seal ; so that the kings of England had reserved the power 
to themselves of promoting to ecclesiastical benefices, not- 
withstanding all the invasions the popes had made on the 
temporal power of princes. 

Contest concerning Ecclesiastical Immunity. 

The immunity of churchmen for crimes committed by 
them till they were first degraded by the spiritual court, 
occasioned a contest in the beginning of this reign between 
the secular and ecclesiastical courts. A law was passed 
under Henry VII., that clerks convict should be burnt in 
the hand. A temporary law was also made in the begin- 
ning of Henry VIII. 's reign, that murderers and robbers, 
not being bishops, priests, nor deacons, should be denied 
the benefit of clergy : but this was to last only till the 
next parliament, and so being not continued by it, the act 
determined. The abbot of Winchelcomb preached se- 
verely against it, as being contrary to the laws of God, 
and the liberties of the holy church, and said, that all who 
assented to it, had fallen under the censures of the church. 
And afterward he published a book to prove that all clerks 
even of the lower orders were sacred, and could not be 
judged by the temporal courts. This being done dunna 
the sitting of parliament, the temporal lords and the com- 
mons addressed the king, desiring him to repress the inso- 
lence of the clergy. Accordingly a public hearing was 
appointed before the king and all the judges : Dr. Standisj 
a Franciscan, argued against the immunity, and proved 
that clerks, equally with laymen, had been in all times 
brought to trial in England ; and that it was necessary for 
the peace and safety of mankind that all criminals should 
be punished. The abbot argued on the other side, and 
said it was contrary to a decree of the church, and was a 
sin of itself. Standish answered that all decrees were rot 
20 



230 

observed ; for, notwithstanding the decrees for residence 
bishops did not reside at their cathedrals ; and since no 
decree did bind till it was received, this concerning imnm 
nity, which was never received in England did not bind 
After they had fully argued the matter, the laity were of 
opinion that Standish had the best of the argument : and 
therefore moved the king that the bishops might be ordered 
to make the abbot preach a recantation sermon. But they 
refused to do it, and said they were bound by their oaths 
to maintain his opinion. Standish was upon this much 
hated by the clergy, but the matter was dropped ; yet the 
clergy carried the point, for the law was not continued. 

Hun Imprisoned for Heresy, and Murdered, 

Not long after this, an event occurred that was produc- 
tive of great consequences. Richard Hun, a merchant in 
London, was sued by his parish priest for a mortuary in 
the legate's court ; on this, his friends advised hira to sue 
the priest in the temporal court for a praemunire for bring- 
ing the king's subjects before a foreign and illegal court. 
This incensed the clergy so much that they contrived his 
destruction. Accordingly, hearing that he had WicklirTe's 
Bible in his house, he was upon that put in the bishop's 
prison for heresy ; but being examined upon sundry arti- 
cles, he confessed some things, and submitted himself to 
mercy ; upon which they ought, according to the law, to 
have enjoined him penance, and discharged him, this 
being his first crime ; but he could not be prevailed on by 
the terror of this to let his suit fall in the temporal court ; 
so one night his neck was broken with an iron chain, and 
he was wounded in other parts of his body, and then knit 
up in his own girdle, and it was given out that he had 
hanged kimself ; but the coroner's inquest, by examining 
the body, and by several other evidences, particularly by 
the confession of the sumner, gave their verdict that he 
was murdered by the bishop's chancellor, Dr. Horsey, and 
the sumner, and the bell-ringer. The spiritual court pro- 
ceeded against the dead body, and charged Hun with all 
the heresy in Wickliffe's preface to the Bible, because 
that was found in his possession ; so he was condemned as 
a heretic, and his body was burnt. The indignation of the 



231 

people was raised to the highest pitch against this action, 
in which the> implicated the whole body of the clergy ^ 
whom they esteemed no more their pastors, but barbarous 
murderers. The rage went so high that the bishop of 
London complained that he was not safe in his own house. 
The bishops, chancellor, and sumner were indicted a* 
principals in the murder. In parliament an act passed, 
restoring Hun's children ; but the commons sent up a bill 
concerning his murder, which was laid aside by the peers 
where the spiritual lords had the majority. 

The clergy looked on the opposition that Standish had 
made to their immunities as that which gave rise to Hun's 
first suit ; and the convocation cited him to answer for his 
conduct ; but he claimed the king's protection, since he 
had done nothing, but only pleaded in the king's name. 
The clergy pretended they did not prosecute him for his 
pleading, but for some of his divinity lectures, contrary to 
the liberty of the church, which the king was bound to 
maintain by his coronation oath : but the temporal lords, 
the judges, and the commons prayed the king also to 
maintain the laws according to his coronation oath, and to 
give Standish his protection. The king upon this being in 
great perplexity, required Veysy, afterward bishop of Exe- 
ter, to declare upon his conscience and allegiance the truth 
in that matter. His opinion was against the immunity ; 
so another public hearing being appointed, Standish was 
accused for teaching, " That the inferior orders of the 
clergy were not sacred ; that their exemption was not 
founded on a divine right, but that the laity might punish 
them ; that the canons of the church did not bind till they 
were received ; and that the study of the canon law was 
useless." Of these he denied some, and justified other 
particulars. Veysy being required to give his opinion, al- 
jeged, " That the laws of the church did only oblige where 
they were received : as the law of the celibacy of the 
clergy, received in the West, did not bind the Greek 
churches that never received it : so the exemption of the 
clerks not being received, did not bind in England." The 
judges gave their opinion next, which was, " That those 
who prosecuted Standish were all in a praemunire." So 
the court broke up. But in another hearing, in the pre- 



fox's book of martyrs. 

seace of the greatest part of both nouses of parliament, the 
cardinal said in the name of the clergy, " That though 
they intended to do nothing against the king's prerogative, 
yet the trying of clerks seemed to be contrary to the liberty 
of the church, which they were bound by their oaths to 
maintain." So they prayed that the matter might be re- 
ferred to the pope. 

The king answered that he thought Standish had an- 
swered them fully : the bishop of Winchester said he 
would not stand to his opinion at his peril. Standish upon 
that said, " What can one poor friar do against all the 
clergy of England V The archbishop of Canterbury said, 
" Some of the fathers of the church had suffered martyr- 
dom upon that account ;" but the chief justice replied, 
" That many holy kings had maintained that law, and 
many holy bishops had obeyed it." In conclusion the 
king declared that he would maintain his rights, and would 
not submit them to the decrees of the church otherwise 
than as his ancestors had done. Horsey was appointed 
to be brought to his trial for Hun's murder, and upon his 
pleading not guilty, no evidence was to be brought, and so 
he was to be discharged. The discontents of the people 
greatly increased at this, and very much disposed them to 
all that was done afterward, for overthrowing the ecclesi- 
astical tyranny. 

This was the first disagreement between the clergy and 
laity in this king's reign. In all other points he was at 
this time attached to the pope's interests, who sent him 
the common compliments of roses, and such other trifles 
by which that see had treated princes so long as children. 
But no compliment wrought so much on the king's vanity 
as the title of " Defender of the Faith," sent him by pope 
Leo upon the book which he wrote against Luther con- 
cerning the sacraments. 

Progress of Luther's Doctrine. 

The rise and progress of the doctrines of Luther are 
well known ; the scandalous sale of indulgences gave the 
first occasion to all that followed between him and the 
church of Rome; in which, had not the corruptions an*' 



233 

cruelties of the clergy been so visible and scandalous, so 
small 1 cause could never have produced so great a revo- 
lution. 

The bishops were grossly ignorant ; they seldom re- 
sided in theii diocesses, except on great festivals ; and all 
the effect their residence at such times could have was to 
corrupt others by their ill example. They attached them- 
selves to princes and aspired to the greatest offices. The 
abbots and monks were wholly given up to luxury and 
idleness, and their unmarried state gave infinite scandal 
to the world ; for it appeared that the restraining them 
from having wives of their own made them conclude that 
they had a right to all other men's. The inferior clergy 
were no better : and not having places of retreat to con 
ceal their vices in, as the monks had, they became more 
public. In short, all ranks of churchmen were so univer- 
sally despised and hated, that the world was very easily 
possessed with prejudice against the doctrines of men 
whom they knew to be capable of every vice ; and the 
worship of God was so defiled with gross superstition that 
ill men were easily convinced that the church stood in 
great need of a reformation. This was much increased 
when the books of the fathers began to be read, in which 
the difference between the former and latter ages of the 
ctturch did very evidently appear. It was found that a 
blind superstition came first in the room of true piety ; and 
when by its means the wealth and interest of the clergy 
were highly advanced, the popes had upon that established 
their tyranny ; under which all classes of people had long 
groaned. All these things concurred to make way for 
the advancement of the reformation; and the books of 
the German reformers being brought into England and 
translated, many were prevailed on by them. Upon this a 
^urious persecution was set on foot, to such a degree that 
six men and women were burnt in Coventry in passion 
veek, only for teaching their children the creed, the Lord's 
)rayer, and the ten commandments in English. Great 
lumbers were every where brought into the bishops' courts ; 
)f whom some were burnt, but the greater part abjured. 

The king laid hold on this occasion to become the 
:nampion of the church, and wrote against Luther, as 
nentioned above. His book, beside the title of " De- 
20* 



234 

fender of the Faith," drew upon him all that flattery could 
invent to extol it ; yet Luther, not daunted by such an an 
tagonist, answered it, and treated him as much beiow the 
respect that was due to a king, as his flatterers had raised 
him above it. Tindal's translation of the New Testament, 
with notes, drew a severe condemnation from the clergy, 
there being nothing in which they were more concerned, 
.han to keep the people unacquainted with that book. 
Thus much may serve to show the condition of affairs in 
England both in church and state, when the process of the 
ing's divorce was first set on foot. 

History of Henry's Marriage with Catharine, 

As this incident is so replete with consequences, a par- 
ticular relation of its cause will not, it is presumed , be un- 
acceptable to the reader. 

Henry VII. had entered into a firm alliance with Fer- 
dinand of Spain, and agreed on a match between his son, 
prince Arthur, and Catharine, the Infanta of Spain. She 
came into England, and was married in November ; but 
on the second of April after, the prince died. They were 
not only bedded in ceremony the night of the marriage, 
but continued still to lodge together ; and the prince gave 
occasion to believe that the marriage was consummated. 

The king being unwilling to restore so great a portion 
as 200,000 ducats, which the princess brought as her 
dowry, proposed a second match for her with his 
younger son Henry. Warbam objected against the lawful- 
ness of it ; but Fox, bishop of Winchester, was for it, and 
the opinion of the pope's authority was then so well esta- 
blished, that it was thought a dispensation from Rome was 
sufficient to remove all objections. Accordingly, one was 
obtained, grounded upon the desire of the two young per- 
sons to marry together, and for the preservation of peace 
between the crowns of England and Spain. 

The pope was then at war with Louis the Twelfth of 
France, and so would refuse nothing to the king of Eng- 
land, being, perhaps, not unwilling that princes should con- 
tract such marriages, by which the legitimation of their 
issue depending on the pope's dispensation, they would be 
thereby obliged in interest to support that authority. Upon 



FOX 8 BOOK OP MARTYRS. 235 

this a marriage followed, the prince heing yet under age ; 
but the same day in which he became of age, he did, by 
his father's orders, make a protestation that he retracted 
and annulled his marriage. 

Henry the Seventh, on his death bed, charged his son to 
break it off entirely, being perhaps apprehensive of such 
a return of confusion upon a controverted succession to 
the: crown, as had been during the wars of the houses of 
York and Lancaster ; but after his father's death, Henry 
the Eighth being then eighteen years of age, married her: 
she bore him two sons, who died soon after they were born ; 
r.nd a daughter, Mary, afterward queen of England. 
A.fter this the queen contracted some diseases that maJe 
her unacceptable to the king ; who, at the same time be- 
ginning to have some scruples of conscience with regard 
to the lawfulness of his marriage, determined to have the 
affair investigated. 

The King's scruples concerning his Marriage. 

He seemed to lay the greatest weight on the prohibition 
in the levitical law, of marrying the brother's wife, and 
being conversant in Thomas Aquinas's writings, he found 
that he and the other schoolmen looked on those laws as 
moral, and forever binding ; and consequently the pope's 
dispensation was of no force, since his authority went not 
so far as to dispense with the laws of God. All the bishops 
of England, Fisher of Rochester only excepted, declared 
under their hands and seals, that they judged the marriage 
unlawful. The ill consequences of wars that might lollov 
upon a doubtful title to the crown, were also much consi- 
dered. It is not probable that Henry's affection for any 
other lady was the origin of these proceedings ; but rather 
that, conceiving himself upon the point of being freed of 
his former marriage, he gave free scope to his affections. 
which settled on Anne Boleyn. 

This lady was born in the year 1507, and at seves 
years of age was sent to France, where she remained 
twelve years, and then returned to England. She was 
much admired in both courts, was more beautiful than 
graceful, and more cheerful than discreet. She wanted 
oone of the charms of wit or person, and must have had 



236 fox's book of martyrs. 

extraordinary attractions, since she could so long retain hei 
place in such a king's affection. 

Knight, then secretary of state, was sent to Rome to 
prepare the pope to grant a dispensation from the former 
marriage. Knight made application to the pope in the 
most secret manner he could, and had a most favourable 
answer, for the pope promised frankly to dissolve the 
marriage ; but another promise being exacted of him by 
the emperor Charles V., nephew of Catharine, not to 
proceed in that affair, he was reduced to great straits, 
being then at his mercy, and yet unwilling to offend the 
king of England : he therefore studied to gain time, and 
promised that if the king would have a little patience, he 
should not only have that which he asked, but every thing 
that was in his power to grant. 

Some scruples were made concerning the bull that was 
demanded, till, by great presents, it was at length obtained; 
and then the pope signed a commission for Wolsey to try 
the cause and judge in it, and also a dispensation, and put 
them in Knight's hands, but with tears prayed him that 
there might be no proceedings upon them, till the emperor 
were put out of a capacity of executing his revenge upon 
him, and whenever that were done he would own this act 
of justice which he did in the king's favour. 

The pope was at this time offended with Cardinal Wol 
sey ; for he understood that during his captivity Wolsey 
had been in an intrigue to get himself chosen vicar of the 
papacy, and was to have sat at Avignon, which might have 
produced a new schism. Staphileus, dean of the Rota, 
being then in England, was prevailed on by the promise o* 
a bishopric, and a recommendation to a cardinal's hat, to 
promote the king's affair ; and by him the cardinal wrote 
to the pope, in a most earnest strain, for a despatch of this 
business ; and he desired that an indifferent and tractable 
cardinal might be sent over, with a full commission to join 
with him and to judge the matter; proposing Campegic 
:o the king's ambassadors as the fittest man. 

The cardinal in h's letters to Cassali, who was in grea 
favour with the pontiff, offered to take the blame on his 
own soul, if the pope would grant this bull ; and with ai? 
earnestness, as hearty and warm as can be expressed it 
words, he pressed the thing, and added, that if the pope 



pox's book op martyrs. 237 

continued inexorable, he perceived the king would proceed 
another way. 

These entreaties had such an effect, that Campegio was 
declared legate, and ordered to go to England, and j^in 
in commission with Wolsey for judging this matter. He 
c'.ccordingly set out from Rome, and carried with him a 
decretal bull for annulling the marriage, which he was au- 
rnorized to show to the king and Wolsey ; but was required 
not to give it out of his hands to either of them. 

Campegio comes to England. 

In October he arrived in England, and advised the king 
to relinquish the prosecution of his suit ; and then coun- 
selled the queen, in the pope's name, to enter into a reli- 
gious community ; but both were in vain ; and he by af- 
fecting an impartiality, almost lost both sides. But he in 
great measure pacified the king, when he showed him 
the bull he had brought over for annulling the marriage ; 
vet he would not part with it out of his hands, neither to 
the king nor the cardinal; upon which great solicitation 
was employed at Rome, that Campegio might be ordered 
to show it to some of the king's counsellors, and to go on 
and end the business, otherwise Wolsey would be ruined 
and England lost : yet all this did not prevail on the pope, 
who knew that the kino; intended to get the bull out of 
Campegio's hands, and then to leave the pontiff to the 
emperor's indignation : but though he positively refused to 
grant that, yet, he said, he left the legates in England free 
' to judge as they saw cause, and promised that he would 
confirm their sentence. 

The affair proceeding very slowly, ambassadors were 
despatched to Rome with new propositions for a speedy 
termination. On this, the pope gave new assurances that 
though he would not grant a bull by which the divorce 
should be immediately his own act, yet he would confirm 
the legate's sentence. 

About this time, the pope was taken suddenly ill, dpon 
which the Imperialists began to prepare for a conclave : 
but Farnese, and the cardinal of Mantua, opposed them, 
and seemed to favour Wolsey ; whom, as his correspond- 
ents wrote to him, " they reverenced as a Deity." Upon 



FOX'S fiOOfc of foAfc'r'YfcS 

*his he despatched a courier to Gardiner, then on his wify 
to Rome, with large directions how to manage the election ; 
it was reckoned, that on the king of France joining heartily 
with Henry, of which he seemed confident, there were 
only six cardinals wanting to make the election sure, and 
besides sums of money, and other rewards, that were to 
be distributed among them, he was to give them assurance 
that the cardinal's preferments should be divided among 
them. These were the secret methods of attaining that 
chair : and indeed it would puzzle a man of an ordinary 
degree of credulity, to think that one chosen by such 
means could presume to be Christ's vicar, and the infallible 
judge of controversies. The recovery, however, of the 
pope, put an end to those intrigues. 

The Queen appeals to the Pope, 

At length the legates began the process, when the queen 
protested against them as incompetent judges. They, how- 
ever, proceeded according to the forms of law, although 
the queen had appealed from them to the pope, and object- 
ed alike to the place, to the judges, and her lawyers : yet 
they pronounced her contumacious, and went on to exa- 
mine witnesses, chiefly as to the consummation of her mar- 
riage with prince Arthur. But now, since the process was 
thus going on, the emperor's agents pressed the pope vehe- 
mently for an avocation, and all possible endeavours were 
used by the king's agents to hinder it ; it was told him, that 
there was a treaty on foot between the king and the Lu- 
theran princes of Germany ; and that upon declaring him- 
self so partial as to grant the avocation, this would certainly 
be concluded. But the pope thought the king so far engaged 
in honour in the points of religion, that he would not be 
prevailed upon to unite with Luther's followers ; he did not, 
therefore, imagine that the effects of his granting the avoca- 
tion would be so fatal as was represented. In conclusion, 
therefore, after the emperor had engaged to him to restore 
liis family to the government of Florence, the pope resolved 
to publish his treaty with him: he told the English ambas- 
sadors that he was forced to it ; botli because all the law- 
vers told him it could not be denied, and that he could 
not resist the emperor's forces, which surrounded him or 



fox's tfooK oF MArvfVtt*. S3!) 

all bands Their endeavours to gain a little time by de- 
ays were as fruitless as their other arts had been, for on 
the loth of July the pope signed it, and on the 19th sent 
it by an express messenger to England. 

The legates, Campegio in particular, drew out the mat- 
ter by all the delays they could contrive, and gained much 
time. At last, sentence being to be pronounced, Cam- 
pegio, instead of pronouncing it, adjourned the court till 
October, and said that they being a part of the consistory, 
must observe their times of vacation. This gave the king 
and his court great offence when they saw what was like 
to be the issue of a process on which his majesty was so 
much bent, and in which he was so far engaged, both in 
honour and interest. The king governed himself upon 
this occasion with more temper than was expected : he 
iismissed Campegio civilly, only his officers searuied his 
: offers when he went beyond sea, with design, as was 
thought, to see if the decretal bull could be found. Wol- 
^ey was now upon the point of being disgraced, though 

the king seemed to treat him with all his former con- 

© 

fide nee. 



CHA TER III. 

Account of Cranmer. 

At this period Dr. Cranmer, a fellow of Jesus College 
in Cambridge, meeting accidentally with Gardiner and 
Fox at Waltham, and entering into discourse upon the 
royal marriage, suggested that the king should engage the 
chief universities and divines of Europe to examine the 
lawfulness of his marriage ; and if they gave their resolu- 
tions against it, then it being certain that the pope's dis- 
Densation could not derogate from the law of God, the 
marriage must be declared null. This novel and reasona- 
ule scheme they proposed to the king, who was much 
pleased with it, as he saw this way was better in itself 
and would mortify the pope. Cranmer was accordingly 
sent for, and on conversing with him, the king conceived 
«l high opinion both of his learning and prudence, as well 



240 

as of his probity and sincerity, which took such root in his 
mind, that no artifices nor calumnies were ever able to re 
move it. 

Wolsey is disgraced. 

From this moment began the decline of Wolsey. The 
great seal was taken from him and given to Sir Thomas 
More : and he was sued in a praemunire for having held 
the legatine courts by a foreign authority, contrary to the 
laws of England : he confessed the indictment, pleaded 
ignorance, and submitted himself to the king's mercy ; so 
judgment passed on him : then was his rich palace and 
royal furniture seized on for the royal use ; yet the king 
received him again into his protection, and restored to 
him the temporalities of the sees of York and Winchester 
and above 60001. in plate and other goods. Articles 
#ere, however, preferred against him in the house of 
lords, where he had but few friends ; but Cromwell, who 
had been his secretary did so manage the matter in the 
bouse of commons that it came to nothing. This failing, 
liis enemies procured an order to be sent to him to go 
into Yorkshire : thither he went in great state, with one 
hundred and sixty horses in his train, and seventy-two 
carts following him. There he lived some time ; but the 
king being mfornied that he was practising with the pope 
and the emoeror, sent the earl of Northumberland to ar- 
rest him for high treason and bring him up to London. 
On the way he sickened, and died at Leicester, making 
great protestations of his constant fidelity to the king, par- 
ticularly in the matter of his divorce : and " wishing he 
had served God as faithfully as he had done the king ; for 
then he would noi have cast nim off in his gray hairs as 
the king had done :" words that declining favourites are 
apt to reflect on, but seldom remember in the height of 
their fortune. 

The Universities declare against the King's Marriage 

The king now intending to proceed in the method pre 
posed by Cranmer, sent to Oxford and Cambridge to pro 
cure their conclusions. At Oxford it was referred by ths 



POX S BOOK Of MARTYRS. 



241 



major part of the convocation to thirty-three doctors ana 
bachelors of divinity, whom that faculty was to name : 
they were empowered to determine the question, and put 
the seal of the university to their conclusion. And they 
gave their opinions that the marriage of the brother's wife 
was contrary both to the laws of God and nature. At Cam- 
bridge the convocation referred the question to twenty- 
nine ; of which number, two-thirds agreeing, they were 
empowered to put the seal of the university to their de- 
termination. These agreed in opinion with those of Ox- 
ford. The jealousy of Dr. Cranmer's favouring Luther- 
anism caused the fierce popish party to oppose every thing 
in which he was engaged. They were also afraid of Anne 
Boleyn's advancement, who was believed to be tinctured 
with these opinions. Crook, a learned man, was employed 
in Italy to procure the resolution of divines there ; in 
which he was so successful that besides the great discove- 
ries he made in searching the manuscripts of the Greek 
fathers concerning their opinions in this point, he engaged 
several persons to write for the king's cause : and also 
got the Jews to give their opinions of the laws in Leviti- 
cus that they were moral and obligatory ; yet, when a 
brother died without issue, his brother might marry his 
widow within Judea, for preserving their families and suc- 
cession ; but they thought that might not be done out ol 
Tudea. The state of Venice would not declare themselves, 
but said they would be neutral, and it was not easy to per- 
suade the divines of the republic to give their opinions 
till a brief was obtained of the pope permitting all divines 
and canonists to deliver their opinions according to their 
consciences. The pope abhorred this way of proceeding, 
though he could not decently oppose it : but he said, in 
great scorn, that no friar should set limits to his power. 
Crook was ordered to give no money, nor make promises 
to any till they had freely delivered their opinion ; which 
lie is said to have faithfully observed. 

He sent over to England a hundred several books and 
papers, wiih many subscriptions ; all condemning the 
king's marriage as unlawful in itself. At Paris the Sor- 
bonne made their determination with great solemnity ; 
after mass all the doctors took an oath to studv the ques- 

21 



242 

tion and to give their judgment according to their con- 
sciences ; and after three weeks study, the greater part 
agreed on this : " that the king's marriage was unlawful 
and that the pope could not dispense with it." At Orleans 
Angiers, and Toulouse, they determined to the same 
purpose. 

Calvin thought the marriage null, and all agreed that the 
pope's dispensation was of no force. Osiander was em- 
ployed to engage the Lutheran divines, but they were 
afraid of giving the emperor new grounds of displeasure, 

Melancthon thought the law in Leviticus was dispensable 
and that the marriage might be lawful ; and that in those 
matters states and princes might make what laws thei 
pleased ; and though the divines of Leipsic after much 
disputing about it, did agree that those laws were moral 
«\,t they could never be brought to justify the divorce with 
the subsequent marriage ; but the pope was more com- 
pliant, for he offered to Cassali to grant the king dispensa- 
tion for having another wife, with which the Imperialists 
seemed not dissatisfied. 

The king's cause being thus fortified by so many resolu- 
tions in his favour, he made many members of parliament 
in a prorogation time sign a letter to the pope, complain- 
ing that notwithstanding the great merits of the king, the 
justice of his cause, and the importance of it to the safetj 
of the kingdom, yet the pope made still new delays ; thev 
therefore pressed him to despatch it speedily, otherwise 
they would be forced to seek other remedies, though they 
were not willing to drive things to extremities till it was 
unavoidable. The letter was signed by the cardinal, the 
archbishop of Canterbury, four bishops, twenty-two ib- 
bots, forty-two peers, and eleven commoners. 

To this the pope wrote an answer : he took notice of 
the vehemence of their style : he freed himself from the 
imputations of ingratitude and injustice : he acknowledged 
the king's great merits ; and said he had done all he could 
in his favour: he had granted a commission, but could not 
refuse to receive the queen's appeal ; all the cardinals 
with one consent judged that an avocation was necessary. 
Since that time the delays lay not with him, but with the 
king; that he was ready 10 proceed, and would bring ii 



FOX'S BOOK OP MARTYRS*. 243 

fo as speedy an issue as tlie importance of it would admi 
di'; and for their threatening they were neither agreea- 
ble to their wisdom, nor their religion. 

The king, now disgusted at his dependence on the pope, 
issued a proclamation against any that should purchase, 
bring over, or publish any bull from Rome contrary to his 
authority : and after that he made an abstract of all the 
masons and authorities of the fathers or modern writers 
against his marriage, to be published both in Latin and 
English. 

Both sides having produced the strength of their cause, 
it evidently appeared that, according to the authority given 
to ihe tradition in the church of Rome, the king had clearly 
the right on his side. 

Amidst these disputes the queen continued firm to her 
resolution of leaving the matter in the pope's hands, and 
would not listen to any propositions for referring the matter 
to the arbitration of a number chosen on both sides. 

The kings of England claimed the same latitude of 
power in ecclesiastical matters, as the Roman emperors 
had exercised before the fall of that empire : anciently 
they had by their authority divided bishoprics, granted the 
investitures, and made laws relating both to ecclesiastical 
causes and persons. When the popes began to extend 
their power beyond the limits assigned them by the 
canons, great opposition arose to them in England; but 
they managed the advantages they found, either from the 
weakness or ill circumstances of princes so steadily, that 
at length they subdued the world : and if they had not by 
their cruel exactions so oppressed the clergy, that they 
were driven to seek shelter under the covert of the tem- 
poral authority, the world was so overwhelmed by super- 
stition and credulity, that not only the whole spiritual 
power, out even the temporal authority of the princes was 
likely to nave fallen under popish tyranny. But the dis- 
contented clergy supported the secular power as much as 
they had before advanced that of the papal. Boniface 
VIII. haa raised his pretentions to that impudent pitch 
that he declared all power both ecclesiastical and civil 
was demed from him; and this he established as an arti- 
cle of faith necessary to salvation ;" on which he and his 
successors took upon them to dispose of all ecclesiastical 



244 pox's book of martyrs. 

benefices by tbeir bulls and prov sions. To restrain these 
invasions of the rights of princes, laws were made in Eng- 
land, which condemned them for the future : but no pu- 
nishment being declared for the transgressors, the courtiers 
at Rome were not frighted at so general a law : so that 
these abuses still continued: but in the reign of Edward 
TIL, a more severe act was made, by which all tnat trans- 
gressed were to be imprisoned, to be fined at pleasure, 
and to forfeit all their benefices. 

The Clergy sued in a Prcemunire. 

These long forgotten statutes were now revived, to 
bring the clergy into a snare: it was designed, by the ter- 
ror of this, to force them into an entire submission, and 
to oblige them to redeem themselves by the grant of a con- 
siderable subsidy. They pleaded ignorance ; it was a 
public error, and they ought not therefore to be punished 
for it. To this it was answered, that the laws which they 
had transgressed were still in force, and so no ignorance 
could excuse the violation of them. The convocation of 
Canterbury made their submission, and in their address to 
the king, he was called the protector and supreme head 
of the church of England ; and but some objecting to that, 
it was added, " in so far as it is agreeable to the law of 
Christ." This was signed by nine bishops, fifty abbots 
and priors, and the greater part of the lower house : and 
with it they offered the king a subsidy of £100,000, to 
procure his favour, and promised for the future not to 
make nor execute any constitutions without his licence. 

The convocation of York did not pass this so easily ; 
they objected to the word head, as agreeing to none but 
Christ; whereupon the king wrote them a long expostu- 
latory letter, and told them with what limitations those of 
Canterbury had passed that title ; upon which they all 
submitted, and offered £18,840, which was accepted; and 
thus the clergy were again received into the king s pro- 
tection, and pardoned. 



BvKti BOOK OF MARTYRS. 245 

The King leaves the Queen. 

After the prorogation of this session of parliament, new 
applications were made to the queen to persuade her to 
depart from her appeal ; but she remained fixed in her 
resolution, and said she was the king's lawful wife, and 
would abide by it till the court of Rome should declare the 
contrar}'. Upon that, the king desired her to choose any 
of his houses in the country to live in, and resolved nevei 
to see her more. 

The Pope writes to the King, and is answered. 

In January, 1532, the pope, upon the motion of the Im- 
perialists, wrote to the king, complaining that notwithstand- 
ing a si lit was depending concerning his marriage, yet he 
had put away his queen, and kept one Anne as his wife, 
contrary to a prohibition served on him ; he therefore ex- 
horted him to live with his queen again, and to put away 
Anne. Upon this the king sent Dr. Bennet to Rome with 
a large despatch, in which he complained that the pope 
proceeded in that matter upon the suggestion of others 
who were ignorant and rash men, and had carried himself 
inconstantly and deceitfully in it, and not as became 
Christ's vicar: he had granted a commission, had promised 
never to recall it, and had sent over a decretal bull defi- 
ning the cause. Either these were unjustly granted, or 
unjustly recalled. It was plain that he acted more with 
regard to his interests, than according to conscience ; and 
that, as the pope had often confessed his own ignorance 
in these matters, so he was not furnished with learned men 
to advise him, otherwise he would not defend a marriage 
which almost all the learned men and universities in Eng- 
land, France and Italy, had condemned as unlawful. He 
would not question his authority, unless he were compelled 
to it, and would do nothing but reduce it to its first and 
ancient limits. 

This haughty letter made the pope resolve to proceed 
and end this matter, either by a sentence or a treaty. The 
king was cited to answer to the queen's appeal at Rome 
in person, or by proxy : accordingly, Sir Edward Karne 
was sent aiither in the new character of the king's excu 
21* 



246 fox's book of martyhs. 

sator, to excuse the king s appearance, upon such grounds 
as could be founded on the canon law, and upon the privi 
leges of the crown of England. The Imperialists pressed 
tne pope to give sentence, but the wiser cardinals, whc 
observed that the nation would adhere to the king, if he 
should be provoked to shake off the pope's yoke, suggested 
milder counsels. 

In conclusion, the pope seemed to favour the king's ex- 
cusatory plea, upon which the Imperialists made great 
complaints. But this amounted to no more, than that the 
king was not bound to appear in person : therefore the 
cardinals, who were in his interest, advised the king to 
send over a proxy for answering to the merits of the cause. 
Bonner was also sent to England to assure the king, that 
the pope was now so much in the French interest, that he 
might confidently refer his matter to him. 

At that time the king sent for the speaker of the house 
of commons, and told him he found the prelates were but 
half subjects ; for they swore at their consecration an oath 
to the pope, inconsistent with their allegiance and oath to 
him. By their oath to the pope, they swore to be in no 
council against him, nor to disclose his secrets ; but to 
maintain the papacy, and the rights and authorities of the 
church of Rome, against all men. In their oath to the 
king, they renounced all clauses in their bulls contrary to 
the king's royal dignity, and swore to be faithful to him, 
and to live and die with him against all others, and to keep 
his counsel ; acknowledging that they held their bishoprics 
only of him. It was evident they could not keep both 
those oaths, in case of a breach between the king and the 
pope. But the plague broke off the consultations of par 
liament at this time. Soon after, Sir Thomas More, see- 
ing a rupture with Rome coming on so fast, desired leave 
to lay down his office, which was upon that conferred on 
Si*- Thomas Audley. More was satisfied with the king's 
keeping up the laws formerly made in opposition to the 
papal encroachments, and so had concurred in the suit of 
the praemunire ; but now the matter went further, and no' 
being able to keep pace with the king's measures, he rp 
turned to a private life 



fox's boox of martyrs. 247 

Interview of the Kings of England and France. 

An interview soon followed between the kings of France 
and England ; in which, Francis promised Henry to second 
him in his suit; encouraged him to proceed to a secu...l 
marriage without delay ; and assured him of his assist- 
ance and support : meantime, the pope offered to the king, 
to send a legate to any indifferent place out of England, to 
form the process, reserving only the giving sentence to 
hir.iself; and proposed to him, and all princes, a genera 
iruce, to be followed by a general council. 

The king answered, that such was the present state of 
the affairs, of Europe, that it was not seasonable to call a 
general council ; and that it was contrary to his preroga 
tive to send a proxy to appear at Rome ; that by the de- 
crees of general councils, all causes ought to be judged on 
the place and by a provincial council ; and that it was 
fitter to judge it in England, than any where else : and that 
by his coronation oath he was bound to maintain the digni- 
ties of his crown, and the rights of his subjects ; and not 
to appear before any foreign court. Sir Thomas Elliot 
was, therefore, sent over with instructions, to move that 
the cause might be judged in England. 

The King marries Anme Boleyn. 

Soon after this, the king married Anne Boleyn ; Row- 
land Lee (afterward bishop of Coventry and Lichfield) 
officiated, none being present but the duke of Norfolk, and 
her father, mother, brother, and Cranmer. It was thought 
that the former marriage being null, the king might pro* 
ceed to another: and perhaps they hoped, that as the pope 
had formerly proposed this method, so he would now ap- 
prove of it. But though the pope had joined himself tc 
France, yet he was still so much in fear of the emperor, 
that he dared not provoke him. A new citation was there- 
fore issued out, for the king to answer to the queen's com- 
plaints ; but Henry's agents protested, that their master 
was a sovereign prince, and England a free church, over 
which the pope had no just authority ; and that the king 
could expect no justice at R<.rae> where tbv? emperor's 
power was so great. 



248 

The Parliament condemns Appeals to Rome, 

At this time, the parliament met again, and passed as 
act, condemning all appeals to Rome ; and enacting, that 
thenceforth all causes should be judged within the kingdom, 
and that sentences given in England were to have full ef 
feet : and all that executed any censures from Rome were 
to incur the pain of praemunire. 

Cranmer made Archbishop of Canterbury, 

Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, having died the 
preceding year, was succeeded by Cranmer who was then 
in Germany, disputing in the king's cause with some of 
the emperor's divines. The king resolved to advance him to 
that dignity, and sent him word of it, that so he might make 
haste over : but a promotion so far ibove his thoughts, 
had not its common effect on him : he had a true and pri- 
mitive sense of so great a charge ; and instead of aspiring 
to it feared it ; and returning very slowly to England, used 
all his endeavours to be excused from that advancement. 
Bulls were sent for to Rome, in order to his consecration 
which the pope granted, and on the 30th of March, Cran- 
mer was consecrated by the bishops of Lincoln, Exeter 
and St. Asaph. The oath to the pope was of hard diges- 
tion to him. He therefore made a protestation, before he 
took it, that he conceived himself not bound up by it 
;n any thing that was contrary to his duty to God, to his 
King, or to his country ; and this he repeated when he 
took it. 

The King's Marriage condemned by the Convocation. 

The convocation had then two questions before them ; 
the first was, concerning the lawfulness of the king's mar- 
riage, and the validity of the pope's dispensation ; the 
other was, of matter of fact, whether Prince Arthur had 
consummated the marriage. For *.he first, the judgments 
of nineteen universities were read ; and after a long de- 
bate, there being twenty-three only in the lower house, 
fourteen were against the marriage, seven for it, and two 
voted dubiously. In the upper house Stokeslv, bishop of 



fox's book of martyrs. 249 

London, and Fisher, maintained the debate long : the one 
for the affirmative, and the other the negative : at last it 
was carried ncmine contradiccnte, (the few that were of 
the other side it seems withdrawing) against the marriage, 
216 being present. The other question was referred to 
the canonists ; and they all, except five or six, reported, 
that the presumptions vere violent ; and these, in a matter 
not capable of plain proof, were always received in law. 
The convocation having thus judged in the matter, the 
ceremony of pronouncing the divorce judicially was now 
only wanting. The new queen being pregnant, was a 
great evidence of her having preserved her chastity pre- 
viously to her marriage On Easter eve she was declared 
queen of England : and sc or. after, Cranmer, with Gardi- 
ner, who had been mad ) upon Wolsey's death bishop of 
Winchester, and the bishops of London, Lincoln, Bath 
and Wells, with many divines and canonists, went to Dun 
stable ; Queen Catherine living then near it, at Ampthih 
The king and queen were cited ; he appeared by proxy 
but the queen refused to take any notice of the court : so 
after three citations she was derlared contumacious, and 
the merits of the cause were examined. At last, on the 
23d of May, sentence was given, declaring the marriage 
*o have been null from the beginning 

Coronation of Anne Bcleyn. 

Some days after this, another judgment was given, con- 
firming the king's marriage with queen Anne, and on the 
5rst of June she was crowned. All people admired her 
conduct, who, during so many years, managed the spirit 
of so violent a king in such a manner, as neither to surfeit 
aim with too many favours, nor to provoke him with too 
•«nuch rigour. They that loved the reformation, looked 
for better days uader her protection; but many priests 
and friars, both in sermons and discourses, condemned the 
king's proceedings. Henry sent ambassadors to the va- 
rious courts of Europe, to justify what he had done : he 
sent also to queen Cathaiine, charging her to assume no 
other title but that of princess dowager ; but to this she 
refused obedience, saying, she would not take that infamy 



250 fox's book of martyrs. 

on herself; and so resolved, that none should serve aboui 
her who did net treat her as queen. 

At Rome the cardinals of the Imperial faction complain- 
ed much of the attempt made on the pope's power, and 
urged him to proceed to censures. But there was only 
sentence given, anulling all that the archbishop of Canter- 
bury had done ; and the king was required under pain of 
excommunkation, to place things again in the state in 
which the> formerly were ; and this notification was affixed 
at Dunkirk. The king sent an embassy to the French 
monarch, who was then setting out to Marseilles, to meet 
the pcoe ; their errand was to dissuade him from the jour- 
noy, 'inless the pope promised Henry satisfaction : Francis 
said he was engaged in honour to go on ; but assured them 
he Yould mind the king's concerns with as much zeal as il 
they were his own. 

Birth of the Princess Elizabeth. 

In September the queen brought forth a daughter, after- 
ward the renowned queen Elizabeth ; and the king having 
before declared lady Mary princess of Wales, did now the 
same for her : though, since a son might exclude her from 
it, she could not be heir apparent, but only heir presump- 
tive to the crown. 

The eventful moment was now at hand, when the inci- 
dent should take place that would cause the separation of 
England from the Church of Rome. There was a secret 
agreement between the pope and Francis, that if king 
Henry would refer his cause to the consistory, excepting 
only the cardinals of the Imperial faction, as partial, and 
would in all other things return to his obedience to the see 
of Rome, the sentence should be given in his favour. 
When Francis returned to Paris, he sent over the bishop 
of that city to the king, to tell what he had obtained of 
the pope in his favour, and the terms on which it was pro- 
mised ; this wrought so much on the king, that he pre- 
sently consented to them: upon winch the bishop of Paris 
though it was now in the middle of winter, went to Rome 
'n consequence. Upon his arrival there, the matter seemed 
£fred ; for it was promised, that upon the king's sending 



FOX S ROOK OF MARTYRS. 251 

a promise under his hand, to place things in their former 
state, and his ordering a proxy to appear for him, judges 
should be sent to Cambray for making the process, and 
then sentence should be given. Upon the notice given of 
this and of a day fixed for the return of the courier, the 
king despatched him with all possible haste ; and now the 
business seemed at an end. But the courier had the sea 
and Alps to pass, and in winter it was not easy to observe 
a limited day so exactly. The appointed day caine, xnd 
no courier arrived ; upon which the imperialists gave out 
that the king was abusing the pope's easiness ; and pressed 
him vehemently to proceed to a sentence : the bishop of 
Paris requested only a delay of six days. But the design 
of the imperialists was to hinder a reconciliation ; for if 
the king had been set right with the pope, there would 
have been so powerful a league formed against the empe- 
ror, as would have frustrated all his measures : and there- 
fore it was necessary for his politics to embroil them. Se- 
duced by the artifice of this intriguing prince, the pope, 
contrary to his ordinary prudence, brought the matter be 
fore the consistory ; and there the imperialists having the 
majority, it was driven on with so much precipitation, 
that they did in one day that which, according to form, 
should have occupied three. 

They gave the final sentence, declared the king's mar- 
riage with queen Catharine good, and required him to live 
with her as his wife, otherwise they would proceed to cen- 
sures. Two days after this, the courier came with the 
king's submission in due form ; he also brought earnest 
letters from Francis in the king's favour. This wrought 
on all the indifferent cardinals, as well as those of the 
French faction, so much that they prayed the pope to re- 
call what was done. A new consistory was called ; but 
♦he imperialists urged, with greater vehemence than ever, 
that they would not give such scandal to the world as to 
recall a definitive sentence past of the validity of a mar- 
riage, and give the heretics such advantages by their un- 
steadiness in matters of that nature : it was therefore car- 
ried, that the former sentence should take place, and the 
execution of it be committed to the emperor. When this 
was known in England, it determined the king in his reso- 
lution of shaking off the papal yoke ; in which he had 



252 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 



made so great a progress, that the parliament had passed 
all the acts concerning it, before he received uie ucwt 
from Rome ; for he judged that the best way to secure his 
cause was to let Rome see his power, and with what vigoui 
he could make war. 



CHAPTER IV 

Arguments for rejecting the Pope's power. 

In England the foundations on which the papal autho- 
rity was built, had been examined with extraordinary care 
of late years ; and several books were written on that 
subject. It was demonstrated that all the apostles were 
made equal in the powers that Christ gave them, and he 
often condemned their contests about superiority, but never 
declared in St. Peter's favour. St. Paul withstood him to 
nis face, and reckoned himself not inferior to him. If the 
dignity of a person left any authority with the city in 
which he sat, then Antioch must carry it as well as Rome ; 
and Jerusalem, where Christ suffered, was to be preferred 
to all the world, for it was truly the mother-church. The 
other privileges ascribed to St. Peter, were either only a 
precedence of order, or were occasioned by his fall, as 
that injunction, " Feed my sheep," it being a restoring 
him to the apostolical function. St. Peter had also a limited 
province, the circumcision, as St. Paul had the uncircum- 
cision, of far greater extent ; which showed that Peter was 
not considered as the universal pastor. 

Several sees, as Ravenna, Milan, and Aquileia, pre- 
tended exemption from the papal authority. Many Eng- 
lish bishops had asserted that the popes had no authority 
against the canons, and to that day no canon the pope 
made was binding till it was received ; which showed the 
pope's authority was not believed to be founded on a di- 
vine authority: and the contests which the kings of England 
had had with the popes concerning investitures, bishops 
doing homage, appeals to Rome, and the authority of papal 
bulls and provisions, showed that the pope's power was 
believed to be subject to laws and custom, and so not de- 



fox's book of martyrs. 26b 

rived from Christ and St. Peter ; and as laws had given 
them some power, and princes had heen forced in igno- 
rant ages to submit to their usurpations, so they might, as 
they saw cause, change those laws, and resume their rights. 

The next point inquired into was the authority that 
kings had in matters of religion and the church. In the 
New Testament, Christ was himself subject to the civil 
powers, and cna'ged his disciples not to affect temporal 
dominion. They also wrote to the churches to be subject 
to the higher powers, and cal! them supreme, and charge 
every soul to be subject iO them: so in scripture the king 
is called head and supreme, and every soul is said to be 
under him, which joined together makes up his conclusion 
that he is the supreme head over all persons. In the pri- 
mitive church the bishops only made rules or canons, but 
pretended to no ompulsive authority, but what came from 
the civil magistrate. Upon the whole matter, they conclu- 
ded that the pope had no power in England, and that the 
king had an entire dominion over all his subjects, which ex- 
tended even to the regulation of ecclesiastical matters. 

These questions being fully discussed in many disputes 
and published in several books, all the bishops, abbots, and 
friars of England, Fisher only excepted, were so far satis- 
fied with them, that they resolved to comply with the 
changes the king was resolved to make. 

The P ope 1 s power rejected by Parliament. 

At the next meeting of parliament there were but seven 
bishops and twelve abbots present, the rest being unwilling 
to concur in making this change, though they complied 
with it when it was made. Every Sunday during the 
session a bishop preached at St. Paul's, and declared that 
the pope had no authority in England : before this they 
had only said that a general council was above him, and 
that the exactions of his court, and appeals to it, were un- 
lawful ; but now they went a strain higher, to prepare the 
people for receiving the acts then in agitation. On the 
9th of March the commons began the bill for taking away 
the pope's power, and sent it to the lords on the 14th, who 
passed it on the 20th without any dissent. In it they set 
forth the exactions of the court of Rome, grounded on the 
22 



254 

pope's power of dispensing ; and that as none could dis- 
pense with the laws of God, so the king and parliament 
only had the authority of dispensing with the laws of the 
land; and that therefore such licenses or dispensations as 
were formerly in use, should be for the future granted by 
the two archbishops; some of these were to be confirmed 
under the great seal ; and they appointed that thereafter 
all intercourse with Rome, on those subjects should cease. 
They also declared that they did not intend to alter any 
article of the catholic faith of Christendom, or of that 
which was declared in the scripture necessary to salvation. 
They confirmed al the exemptions granted to monasteries 
Me popes, but subjected them to the king's visitation, 
and gave the king and his council power to examine and re- 
form all indulgences and privileges granted by the pope. 
This act subjected the monasteries entirely to the king'* 
authority, and put them in no small confusion. Thosfc 
who loved the reformation rejoiced both to see the pope'x 
power rooted out, and to find the scripture made the stand 
ard of religion. 

After this act, another passed in both houses, in six days 
time, without any opposition, settling the succession of the 
crown, confirming the sentence of divorce, and the king's 
marriage with queen Anne, and declaring all marriages 
within the degrees prohibited by Moses to be unlawful: 
all that had married within them were appointed to be di- 
vorced, and their issue illegitimated ; and the succession 
to the crown was settled upon the king's issue by the pre 
sent queen, or, in default of that, to the king's right heirs 
for ever. All were required to swear to maintain the con- 
tents of this act ; and if any refused to swear to it, 01 
should say any thing to the slander of the king's marriage, 
he was to be judged guilty of misprision of treason, and 
to be punished accordingly. 

About this time one Phillips complained to the house of 
commons of the bishop of London, for using him cruelly 
in prison upon suspicion of heresy ; the commons sent up 
Sis petition to the lords, but received no answer ; they 
>nt7.efor.e sent some of their members to the bishop, desir- 
'ng him to answer the complaints put in against him : but 
no acquainted the house of lords with it ; and they with 
consent v >ted that none of their house ought to ap 



FOX S ROOK OF MARTYRS. 

pear or answer to any complaint at the bai of the house 
of commons. On which the commons let this particular 
case fall, and sent up a bill, to which the lords agreed, 
regulating the proceedings against heretics; repealing the 
statute of Henry IV. ; and declaring that none were to he 
committed lor heresy but upon a presentment made by 
two witnesses ; none were to be accused for speaking 
against things that were grounded only upon the pope's 
cartons ; bail was to be taken for heretics, ?v.«d >ey were 
t-> bj Liuught to trial in open court; i*.id if upon convic- 
t. m they did not abjure, or were relapses, they were to 
Lc burnt ; the king's writ being first obtained. This was 
a great check to the bishops' tyranny, and gave ["eat sa- 
tisfaction to tne friends of the reformation. 

The convocation sent in a submission at the same time, 
hy which they acknowledged, that all the convocations 
ought to be assembled by the king's writ; and promised 
never to make nor execute any canons without the king's 
assent. They also desired, that since many of the received 
canons were found to be contrary to the king's prerogative 
and the laws of the land, there might be a committee, named 
by the king, of thirty-two, the one half out of both houses 
of parliament, and the other of the clergy, empowered to 
abrogate or regulate them, as they should see cause. This 
was confirmed in parliament; the act against appeals was 
renewed ; and an appeal was allowed from the archbishop 
to the king, upon which the lord chancellor was to gran. 
a commission for a court of delegates. 

Another act passed for regulating the elections and con- 
secrations of bishops, condemning all bulls from Rome, 
and appointing that upon a vacancy the king should 
grant a license for an election, and should by a missive 
etter signify the person's name whom he would have 
chosen ; and within twelve days after these were delivered, 
the dean and chapter, or prior and convent, were required 
to- return an election of the person named by the king 
under their seals. The bishop elect was upon that t4 
swear fealty, and a writ was to be issued out for his con- 
secration in the usual manner ; after that he was to do 
noniage to the king, upon which both the temporalities and 
°piritualities were to be restored, and bishops were to ex- 
ercise their jurisdictions as they had done before. Ali 



*,36 fox's book of martyrs. 

who transgressed this act were made guilty of a prae 
muni re. 

A private act passed, depriving cardinal Campegio and 
Jerome de Gianuccii of the bishoprics of Salisbury and 
Worcester : the reasons given for it were, because they 
did not reside in their dioceses, for preaching the laws of 
God, and keeping hospitality, but lived at the court of 
Rome, and drew £3000 a year out of the kingdom. 

While these measures were pursuing by the government, 
Tindal of Antwerp, who had been compelled to flee from 
England, by the assistance of several others translated the 
New Testament into English, and improved every oppor- 
tunity of sending them from thence to England, by means 
of which the minds of the people were preparing for the 
change that was soon to follow 

Story and Martyrdom of Thomas Bilney. 

Thomas Bilney was brought up at Cambridge from a 
child. On leaving the university he preached in several 
places ; and in his sermons spoke with great boldness 
against the pride and insolence of the clergy. This was 
during the ministry of cardinal Wolsey, who, hearing of 
his attacks, caused him to be seized and imprisoned. 
Overcome with fear, Bilney abjured, was pardoned, and 
returned to Cambridge in the year 1530. Here he fell 
into great horror of mind, in consequence of his instability 
and denial of the truth. He became ashamed of himself, 
bitterly repented of his sin, and growing strong in faith, 
resolved to make some atonement by a public avowal of 
nis apostacy, and confession of his sentiments. To pre- 
pare himself for his task, he studied the scriptures with 
deep attention for two years ; at the expiration of which he 
again quitted the university, went into Norfolk, where he 
was born, and preached up and down that county against 
idolatry and superstition ; exhorting the people to a good 
life, to give alms, to believe in Christ, and to offer up their 
souls to him in the sacrament. He openly confessed nis 
own sin of denying the faith ; and using no precaution as 
he went about, was soon taken by the bishop's officers, 
condemned as a relapse, and degraded. Sir Thomas More 
sent down the writ to burn him. Parker, afterward arch- 



257 

bishop, was an eye-witness of Ii is sufferings ; and affirms 
that lie bore all his hardships with great fortitude and 
resignation, and continued very cheerful after his sentence. 
He eat up the poor provision that was brought him heartily, 
saying, he must keep up a ruinous cottage till it fell. He 
had these words of Isaiah often in his mouth, " When 
thou walkest through the fire thou shaft not be burnt ;' 
and by burning his finger in the candle he prepared him- 
self for the stake ; saying, the fire would only consume 
the st ibble of his body, and would purify his soul. 

On the 10th of November he was brought to the stake, 
where he repeated the creed, prayed earnestly, and with 
the deepest sense repeated these words, " Enter not into 
judgment with thy servant, oh, Lord !" Dr. Warner, who 
attended, embraced him, shedding many tears, and wishing 
he might die in as good a frame of mind as Bilney then 
was. The friars requested him to inform the people that 
they were not instrumental to his death, which he did ; so 
that the last act of his life was one of charity and forgive- 
ness. 

The officers then put the reeds and fagots about his 
body, and set fire to the first, which made a great flame, 
and disfigured his face : he held up his hands, and struck 
his breast, crying sometimes " Jesus ;" sometimes " Cre- 
do !" but the flame was blown away from him several 
times, the wind being very high, till at length the wood 
taking fire, the flame was stronger, and so he yielded up 
the ghost. 

His body being shrunk up, leaned down on the chain, 
till one of the officers with his halberd struck out the staple 
of the chain behind him, on which it fell down into the 
bottom of the fire, where it was covered with wood, and 
consumed. 

The sufferings, the confession, and the heroic death <»f 
his martyr, inspirited and animated others to imitate hi« 
.onduct. 

Byfield and others Burnt, 

Byfield, who had formerly abjured, was taken dispersing 
TindaPs books ; and he, with one Tewkesbury were con- 
sumed by Stokesly, and burnt. Two men and a woman 

22* 



$£$ vox s fcobk tit MAiiliritfi. 

suffered also the same fate at York. Upon these proceed 
ings, the parliament complained to the king ; but this die 
not check the sanguinary proceedings oPthe clergy. Qiv. 
Bainham, a counsellor of the Temple, was taken on suspi- 
cion of heresy, whipped in the presence of sir Thomas 
More, and afterward racked in the Tower, yet he could 
not be wrought on to accuse any, but through fear he ab- 
jured. After this, however, being discharged, he was in 
great trouble of mind, and could find no quiet till he went 
publicly to church, where he openly confessed his sins, 
and declared the torments he felt in his conscience for 
what he had done. Upon this he was again seized on, and 
condemned for having said that Thomas Becket was a 
murderer, and was damned if he did not repent ; and that 
in the sacrament, Christ's body was received by faith, and 
not chewed with the teeth. Sentence was passed upon 
him, and he was burnt. Soon after this More delivered up 
the great seal, in consequence of which the reformed 
preachers had a short respite. 

But the persecution was soon revived, and its rage 
stopped not at the living, but ventured itself even on the 
dead. Lord Tracy made a will, by which he left his soul 
to God, in hopes of mercy through Christ, without the 
help of any saint ; and therefore he declared that he would 
leave nothing for soul-masses. This will, being brought to 
the bishop of London's court to be proved after his death, 
provoked the clergy so much that he was condemned as a 
heretic, and an order was sent to the chancellor of Wor- 
cester to raise his body : but he went beyond his instruc- 
tions, and burnt it, which could not be justified, since the 
deceased was not a relapse. Tracy's heir sued him for it 
and he was turned out of his place, and fined £400. 

The clergy proclaimed an indulgence of forty days par- 
don to any that carried a fagot to the burning of a heretic, 
that so cruelty might seem the more meritorious. 

The reformed now enjoyed a respite of two years, when 
the crafty Gardiner represented to the king that it would 
tend much to nis advantage if he would take some occa- 
sion to show his hatred of heresy. Accordingly a young 
man named Frith was chosen for a sacrifice to thV afff < ted 
iea\ for religion. 



FOx's BOOK OF MARTYltS. 25& 

The Reformers favoured by the Court. 

the nobility and gentry were generally well satisfied 
with the change in ecclesiastical affairs ; but the body of 
the people, being more under the power of the priests 
were filled with great fears on the subject. It was said 
among them that the king now joined himself to heretics ; 
that the queen, Cranmer, and Cromwell, favoured them. 
It was left free to dispute what were articles of faith, and 
what were only the decrees of popes ; and the most im- 
portant changes might be made, under the pretence that 
fhey only rejected those opinions which were supported b\ 
,iie papal authority. 

The monks and friars saw themselves left at the king's 
mercy. Their bulls could be no longer useful to them 
The trade of new saints, or indulgences was now at ao 
end ; they had also some intimations that Cromwell was 
forming a project for suppresssing them ; so they thought 
it necessary for their own preservation to embroil the 
king's affairs as much as was possible : therefore, both in 
confessions and discourses, they laboured to infuse into 
the people a dislike of his proceedings : but these prac 
tices at home, and the intrigues of cardinal Pole abroad, 
the libels that were published, and the rebellions that were 
raised in England, wrought so much on the king's temper, 
laturally imperious and boisterous, that he became too 
prone to acts of severity, and his new title of head of the 
church seemed to have increased his former vanity, and 
made him fancy that all his subjects were bound to regu- 
late their belief by the measures he set them. The bishops 
and abbots did what they could to free the king of any 
jealousies he might have of them ; and of their own accord 
before any law was made about it, swore to maintain his 
supremacy. 

Cromwell made Vicar- General, 

The first act of his new power was the making Crom- 
well vicar-general, and visiter of all the monasteries and 
churches of England, with a delegation of the king's su- 
pramac} to him ; he was also empowered to give commis- 
sions sul altera to himself' and all wills, where the estate 



3260 

was in value above £200, were to be proved 111 his court 
This was afterward enlarged : he was made the king's 
vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters, had the precedence of 
all persons except the royal family ; and his authority was 
in all points the same as had been formerly exercised by 
the pope's legates. 

Pains were taken to engage all the clergy to declare for 
the supremacy. At Oxford a public determination was 
made, to which every member assented, that the pope had 
no more authority in England than any other foreign 
bishop. The Franciscans at Richmond made some oppo- 
sition ; they said, by the rule of St. Francis, they were 
bound to obey the holy see. The bishop of Lichfield 
told them that all the bishops in England, all the heads of 
Souses, and the most learned divines had signed that pro- 
position. St. Francis made his rule in Italy, where the 
bishop of Rome was metropolitan, but that ought not t<* 
extend to England : and it was shown that the chapte 
cited by them was not written by him, but added since 
yet they continued positive in their refusal to sign it. 

General visitation of the Monasteries. 

It was well known that the monks and friars, though 
they complied with the time, yet hated this new power of 
the king's ; the people were also startled at it : so one Dr. 
Leighton, who had been in Wolsey's service with Crom- 
well, proposed a general visitation of all the religious 
mouses in England ; and thought that nothing would re- 
concile the nation so much to the king's supremacy, as to 
see some good effect flow from it. Others deemed this 
was too bold a step, and feared it would provoke the reli- 
gious orders too much. Yet it was known that they were 
guilty of such disorders, as nothing could so effectually 
check as inquiry. Cranmer led the way to this by a me- 
tropolitical visitation, for which he obtained the king's 
license ; he took care to see that the pope's name was 
struck out of all the offices of the church, and that the 
king's supremacy was generally acknowledged. 

In October the general visitation of the monasteries was 
begun ; and the visiters were instructed to inquire whethei 
the houses had their full number according to their foun- 



fox's book of martyrs. 26 J 

dation? If they performed divine worship at the ap- 
pointed hours 1 what exemptions they had ? what were 
their statutes 1 how their superiors were chosen ? whether 
they lived according to the severities of their orders ? b"W 
their lands and revenues were managed? what hospitality 
was kept] what care was taken of the novices? what 
benefices were in their gift, and how they disposed of 
them 1 how the enclosures of the nunneries were kept ? 
whether the nuns went abroad, or if men were admitted to 
come to them ? how they employed their time, and wha 
priests they had as their confessors ? 

The visiters were also ordered to deliver some injunc- 
tions in the king's name, as to his supremacy, and the a t 
c»f succession ; and were authorized to absolve every one 
from any rules or oaths of obedience to the pope. 

They were also ordered to take care that the abbots 
should not have choice dishes, but plain tables for hospi- 
tality ; and that the scriptures should be read at meals ; 
that they should have daily lectures of divinity ; and main- 
tain some of every house at the university, and to require 
that the abbot of each monastery should instruct the monks 
in true religion, and show them that it did not consist in 
outward ceremonies, but in clearness of heart, purity of 
life, and the worshipping of God in spirit and truth. 
Rules were given about their revenues, and against ad- 
mitting any under twenty years of age ; and the visiters 
were empowered to punish offenders, or to bring them to 
answer before the visiter-generah 

The visiters went over England, and found in many 
places monstrous disorders. The most horrible and dis- 
gusting crimes were found to be practiced in many of the 
houses ; and nee and cruelty were more frequently the 
inmates of these pietended sanctuaries than religion and 
piety. The report contained many abominable things, 
not fit to be mentioned : some of these were printed, but 
the greater part was lost. 

The first house that was surrendered to the king was 
Langden, in Kent ; the abbot of which was found in bed 
with a woman, who went in the habit of a lay brother. 
To prevent greater evil to himself, he and ten of his 
monks signed a resignation of their house to the king. 
Two other monasteries in the same countv, Folkstone and 



Dover, followed their example. And in the following yeaf 
four others made the like surrenders. 

Death of Queen Catharine. 

On January 8, 1536, queen Catharine died. She had 
been resolute in maintaining her title and state, saying, 
that since the pope had judged her marriage was good, she 
would die rather than do any tnin£ to prejudice it. She 
desired to be buried among the Observant friars, who haa 
most strongly supported her, and suffered for her cause. 
She ordered 500 masses to be said for her soul ; and that 
one of her women should go a pilgrimage to our lady of 
Walsingham, and give two hundred nobles on her way t(5 
'ne poor. When he found death approaching, she wrote 
to the emperor, recommended her daughter to his care, 
also to the king, with this inscription, " My dear lord, 
king, and husband." She forgave him all the injuries he 
aad done her ; and wished him to have regard to his soul. 
She recommended her daughter to his protection, and de- 
sired him to be kind to her three maids, and to pay her 
servants a year's wages ; and concluded with, " Mine eyes 
desire you above all things." She expired at Kimbolton, 
in the fiftieth year of her age, having been thirty-three years 
in England. She was devout and exemplary; patient and 
charitable. Her virtues and her sufferings created an es- 
teem for her in all ranks of people. The king ordered 
her to be buried in the abbey of Peterborough, and was 
somewhat affected at her death ; but the natural barbarity 
of his temper prevented him from feeling much remorse on 
the reflection that he had embittered the existence of a 
woman who loved and reverenced him. 

The same year the parliament confirmed the act em- 
powering thirty-two persons to revise the ecclesiastical 
'aws ; but no time being limited for finishing it, it had no 
effect. The chief business of this session, was the sup- 
pressing of all monasteries whose revenues did not exceed 
£200 a year The act sets forth the great disorders of 
those houses, and the many unsuccessful attempts made to 
reform them. The religious that were in them were or- 
dered to be placed in the greater houses, and the revenues 
given to the king. The king was also empowered to make 



263 

new foundations of such of the suppressed houses as he 
pleased, which were in all three hundred and seventy 
This parliament, after six years continuance, was now dis 
solved. 

A Translation of the Bible proposed. 

In a convocation which sat at this time, a motion was 
made for translating the Bible into English, which had been 
promised when Tindal's translation was condemned, tout 
was afterward laid aside by the clergy as neither neces- 
sary nor expedient. It was s&id, that those whose office 
it was to teach the people the word of God, did all they 
could to suppress it. Moses, the prophets, and the apos- 
tles wrote in the vulgar tongue : Christ directed the peo 
pie to search the scriptures ; and as soon as any natioi 
was converted to the Christian religion, the Bible was 
translated into their language ; nor was it ever taken out 
of the hands of the people, till the Christian religion was 
so corrupted, that it was deemed impolitic to trust them 
with a book, which would so manifestly discover those er- 
rors; and the legends, as agreeing better with those abuses, 
were read instead of the word of God. 

Cranmer thought that putting the Bible in the people's 
hands would be the most effectual means for promoting the 
reformation ; and therefore moved that the king might be 
prayed to order it. But Gardiner, and all the other party 
opposed this vehemently. They said all the evtravagant 
opinions lately broached in Germany arose from the indis- 
creet use of the scriptures. Some of those opinions were 
at this time disseminated in England, both against the di- 
vinity and incarnation of Christ, and the usefulness of the 
sacraments. They therefore argued, that during these 
distractions the use of the scriptures would prove a great 
snare, and proposed that instead of them, that there migh 
be some short exposition of the Christian religion put into 
the people's hands, which might keep them in a certain 
subjection to the king and the chrrch. But in spite of 
their arguments, the question of the translation was carried 
; n the convocation in the affirmative. 

The courtiers were much divided on this point ; some 
said, if the king gave way to it, he would never be abk 



^64 fox's book of martyrs. 

after that to govern his people, and that they would breal 
into many divisions. But on the other hand, it was main- 
tained, that nothing would make the difference between 
the pope's power and the king's supremacy appear more 
eminently, than for the one to give the people the free use 
of the word of God ; while the other kept them in dark- 
ness, and ruled them by a blind obedience. It would do 
much also in extinguishing the interests that either the 
pope or the monks iiad among the people. The Bible 
would teach them, that they had been long deceived by im- 
postures, which had no foundation in the scriptures. These 
reasons, strengthened by the queen's representations to the 
king, prevailed so far with him, that he gave order for set- 
ting about this important affair with all possible haste ; 
and within three years the impression of it was finished. 

The popish party saw, with disappointment and con- 
cern, that the queen was the great obstacle to their designs. 
She grew not only in the king's esteem, but in the love of 
the nation. During the last nine months of her life she 
bes.towed above £14,000 in alms to the poor, and seemed 
to delight in doing good. Soon after Catharine's death, 
Anne bore a dead son, which was believed to have made 
%n unfavourable impression on the.Jving's mind. It was also 
considered, that now queen Catharine was dead, the king 
might marry another, and regain the friendship of the pope 
and the emperor, and that the issue by any other marriage 
would never be questioned. With these reasons of state 
the king's affections joined : for he was now in love (if so 
heartless a monster was capable of feeling love) with Jane 
Seymour, whose disposition was tempered between the 
gravity of Catharine and the gayety of Anne. The latter 
used al possible arts to reinflame his dying affection; but 
he was weary of her, and therefore determined on her de- 
struction ; to effect which he soon found a pretence. Lady 
Rochford, wife to the brother of Anne, basely accused her 
husband of a criminal intercourse with his sister; and 
Morris, Weston and Brereton, the king's servants, with 
Smeton, a musician, were accused of the same crime. 

She was confined to her Chamber, and the five persons 
oefore mentioned were sent to the Tower, whither the 
next day, she was also carried. On the river some privy 
counsellors came to examine her, but she made deep pro 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 2^5 

testations of her innocence ; and on landing at the Tower 
she fell on her knees, and prayed God to assist hei ; pro- 
testing her innocence of the crimes laid to her charge. 
Those who were imprisoned on her account denied every 
•hing, except Smeton, who, from hopes of favour and ac- 
uuittal, confessed that he had been criminally connected 
jvith her ; but denied it when he was afterward brought 
o execution. 

The queen was of a lively temper, and having resided 
ong in the French court, had imbibed somewhat of the le- 
vities of that people. She was also free from pride, and 
lence, in her exterior, she might have condescended too 
much to her familiar servants. 

Every court-sycophant was now her enemy ; and Cran- 
mer formed the only honourable exception. An order was 
therefore procured, forbidding him to come to court ; yet 
he wrote the King a long letter upon this critical juncture, 
wherein he acknowledged, that" if the things reported of the 
queen were true, it was the greatest affliction that ever 
Oefel the king, and therefore exhorted him to bear it with 
patience and submission to the will of God ; he confessed 
he never had a better opinion of any woman than of her ; 
and that, next the king, he was more bound to her than all 
persons living, and therefore he begged the king's leave to 
pray that she might be found innocent ; he loved her not a 
little, because of the love which she seemed to bear to God 
and his gospel ; but if she was guilty, all that loved the 
gospel must hate her, as having been the greatest slander 
possible to the gospel ; but he prayed the king not to en- 
tertain any prejudice to the gospel on her account, nor 
give the world to say, that his love to that was founded on 
the influence she bad with him." But the king was inex- 
orable. The prisoners were put on their trial ; when Sme- 
ton pleaded guilty, as before ; the rest pleaded not guilty ; 
but all were condemned. 

Trial and Execution of the Queen. 

On the 15th of May the queen and her brother, lord 
Rochford, were tried before the duke of Norfolk, as high 
steward, and a court of twenty-seven peers. The crime 
.barged on her was, that she had procured her brother and 



266 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 



four others to lie with her; and had often said to them, 
that the king never had her heart ; and this was to the 
slander of the issue begotten between the king and her, 
which was treason by the act that confirmed her marriage, 
so that the act made for the marriage was now turned to 
her ruin. They would not now acknowledge her the 
king's lawful wife, and therefore did not found the treason 
on the statute 25th Edward III. It does not appear what 
evidence was brought against her ; for Smeton being al- 
ready condemned, could not be made use of; and his never 
being brought face to face with her, gave just suspicion 
that he was persuaded to his confession by base practices. 
There was no other evidence than a declaration said to 
have been made by the lady Wingfield, who died before 
the trial took place ; so that whether this declaration were 
real or a forgery must be very doubtful. 

The earl of Northumberland was one of the judges. He 
had formerly been in love with the queen, and, either from 
a return of his passion, or from some other cause, he be- 
came suddenly so ill, that he could not stay out the trial. 
It was remembered that this earl had said to the cardinal 
Wolsey, that he had engaged himself so far with her, that 




he could not go back, which was perhaps done by some 
promise conceived in words of the future tense; but no 
promise, unless in the words of the present tense, could 



267 

annu ttie subsequent marriage. Perhaps the queen did 
not understand that difference, or probably the fear of a 
terrible death wrought so much on her, that she confessed 
jhe contract ; but the earl denied it positively, and took 
the sacrament upon it, wishing that it might turn to his 
damnation if there were ever either contract or promise of 
marriage between them. Upon her own confession, how- 
ever, her marriage with the king was judged null from the 
beginning, and she was condemned, although nothing could 
be more contradictory ; for if she was never the king's 
wife, she could not be guilty of adultery, there being no 
breach of the faith of wedlock, if they were never truly 
married. But the king was resolved both to be rid of her, 
and to illegitimatize his daughter by her. 

The day before her death, she sent her last message to 
the king, asserting her innocence, recommending her daugh- 
ter to his care, and thanking him for his advancing her 
first to be a marchioness, then a queen, and now, when he 
could raise her no higher on earth, for sending her to be a 
saint in Heaven. The lieutenant of the Tower wrote to 
Cromwell, that it was not fit to publish the time of her 
execution, for the fewer that were present, the better it 
would be, since he believed she would declare her innocence 
at the hour of her death ; for that morning she had made 
great protestations of it when she received the sacrament, 
and seemed to long for death with great joy and pleasure. 
On being told that the executioner, who had been sent for 
expressiy from France, was very skilful, she expressed 
great happiness ; for she said she had a very short neck, 
at which she laughed. 

A little before noon, she was brought to the place of 
execution ; there were present some of the chief officers 
and great men of the court. She was, it seems, prevailed 
on, out of regard to her daughter, to make no reflections 
on the cruel treatment she met with, nor to say any thing 
touching the grounds on which sentence passed against her. 
She only desired that all would judge the best ; she highly 
commended the king, and then took her leave of the world. 
She remained for some time in her private devotions, and 
concluded, " To Christ I commend my soul;" upon which 
the executioner struck off her head : and so little respect 
was paid to her body, that it was with brutal insolence put 



268 fox's book of martyrs. 

\n a chest of elm tree, made to send arrows into Ireland, 
and then buried in the chapel of the Tower. Norris then 
had his life promised him if he would accuse her. But 
this faithful and virtuous servant said he knew she was 
innocent, and would die a thousand deaths rather than de- 
fame her ; so he and the three others were beheaded, and 
all of them continued to the last to vindicate her. The 
day after queen Anne's death the king married Jane Sey- 
mour, who gained more upon him than all his wives ever 
did ; but she was fortunate that she did not outlive his love 
to her. 

The Pope proposes a reconciliation with the King. 

Pope Clement the Seventh was now dead, and cardinal 
Faruese succeeded him by the name of Paul the Third, 
who made an attempt to reconcile himself with the king ; 
but, when that was rejected, thundered out a most terrible 
sentence of deposition against him. Yet now, since the 
two queens upon whose account the breach was made were 
out of the way, he thought it a fit time to attempt the re- 
covery of the papal interest, and ordered Cassali to let the 
king know that he had been driven, very much against his 
mind, to pass sentence against him, and that now it would 
be easy for him to recover the favour of the apostolic see. 

But the king, instead of hearkening to the proposition, 
caused two acts to be passed, by one of which it w as 
made a praemunire for any one to acknowledge the autho- 
rity of the pope, or to persuade others to it ; and, by the 
other, all bulls, and all privileges flowing from them, were 
declared null and void; only marriages or consecrations 
made by virtue of them .were excepted. All who enjoyed 
privileges by these bulls were required to bring them into 
the chancery, upon which the archbishop was to make a 
new grant of them, which, being confirmed under the great 
seal, was to be of full force in law. 

Debates of the Convocation. 

The convocation sat at the same time, and was much 
employed. Latimer preached a Latin sermon before 
hem; he was the most celebrated preacher of that time; 



269 

the simplicity of his matter, and his zeal in expressing ,'t, 
being preferred to more elaborate compositions. The 
convocation first confirmed the sentence of divorce be- 
tween the king and queen Anne. Then the lower house 
made an address to the upper house, complaining of sixty- 
seven opinions, which they found were very much spread 
in the kingdom. These were either the tenets of the old 
Lollards, or of the new Reformers, or of the Anabaptists ; 
and many of them were only indiscreet expressions, which 
might have flowed from the heat and folly of some rash 
zealots, who had endeavoured to disgrace both the received 
doctrines and rites. They also complained of some bishops 
who were wanting in their duty to suppress such abuses. 
This was understood as a reflection on Cranmer, Shaxton, 
and Latimer, the first of whom it was thought was now 
declining, in consequence of the fall of queen Anne. 

But all these projects failed, for Cranmer was now fully 
established in the king's favour ; and Cromwell was sent 
to the convocation, with a message from his majesty, that 
they should reform the rites and ceremonies of the church 
according to the rules set down in scripture, which ought 
to be preferred to all glosses or decrees of popes. 

There was one Alesse, a Scotchman, whom Cromwell 
entertained in his house, who being appointed to deliver 
his opinion, showed that there were no sacraments instituted 
by Christ but baptism and the Lord's supper. Stokesly 
answered him in a long discourse upon the principles of 
the school divinity; upon which Cranmer took occasion to 
show the vanity of that sort of learning, and the uncer- 
tainty of tradition : and that religion had been so corrupt- 
ed in the latter ages, that there was no finding out the truth 
but by resting on the authority of the scriptures. Fox, 
bishop of Hereford, seconded them, and told him that the 
world was now awake, and would be no longer imposed on 
by the niceties and dark terms of the schools; for the laity 
now did not only read the scriptures in the vulgar tongues, 
but searched the originals themselves ; therefore they must 
not think to govern them as they had been governed in the 
times of ignorance. Among the bishops, Cranmer, Good- 
rick, Shaxton, Latimer, Fox, Hilsey, and Barlow, pressed 
he reformation ; but Lee, archbishop of York, Stokesley, 
fonstall, Gardiner. Longland, and several others opposed 
23* 



&?0 tfOX*S fcObR 6* MARTYkS. 

it as much. The contest would have been much sharped 
had not the king sent some articles to be considered of by 
them, when the following mixture of truth and error was 
agreed upon. 

1. That the bishops and preachers ought to instruct the 
people according to the scriptures, the three creeds, and 
the four first general councils. 

2. That baptism was necessary to salvation, and that 
children ought to be baptized for the pardon of original 
sin, and obtaining the Holy Ghost. 

3. That penance was necessary to salvation, and that it 
consisted in confession, contrition, and amendment of lift 
with the external works of charity, to which a lively faith 
ought to be joined ; and that confession to a priest was ne- 
cessan where it might be had. 

4. That in the eucharist under the forms of bread and 
wine, the very flesh and blood of Christ was received. 

5. That justification was the remission of sins, and a 
nerfect renovation in Christ ; and that not only outward 
good works, but inward holiness, was absolutely necessary. 
As for the outward ceremonies, the people were to be 
taught, 1. That it was meet to have images in churches, 
but they ought to avoid all such superstition as had been 
usual in times past, and not to worship the image, but only 
God. 2. That they were to honour the saints, but not to 
expect those things from them which God only gives. 3. 
That they might pray to them for their intercession, but all 
superstitious abuses were to cease ; and if the king should 
lessen the number of saint's days, they ought to obey him. 
4. That the use of the ceremonies was good, and that they 
contained many mystical significations that tended to raise 
the mind toward God ; such were vestments in divine 
worship, holy water, holy bread, the carrying of candles 
and palms and ashes, and creeping to the cross, and hal 
lowing the font, with other exorcisms. 5. That it was 
good to pray for departed souls, and to have masses and 
obsequies said for them; but the scriptures having neither 
declared in what place they were, nor what torments they 
suffered, that was uncertain, and to be left to God ; there- 
fore all the abuses of the pope's pardons, or saying masses 
in such and such places, or before such images, were to be 
put away. 



t-OX^ COOk OF MARTVliS. 2t1 

These articles were signed by Cromwell, the two arch- 
oishops, sixteen bishops, forty abbots and priors, and fifty 
}f the lower house. The king afterward added a preface, 
declaring the pains that he and the clergy had been at for 
the removing the differences in religion which existed in 
the nation, and that he approved of these articles, and re- 
quired all his subJ6 *ts to accept them, and he would be 
thereby encouraged to take further pains in the like mat- 
ters for the future. 

On the publication of these things, the favourers of the 
reformation, though they did not approve of every parti- 
cular, yet were well pleased to see things brought under 
examination ; and since some things were at this time 
changed, they did not doubt but more changes would follow; 
they were glad that the scriptures and the ancient creeds 
were made the standards of the faith, without adding tra- 
dition, and that the nature of justification and the gospel- 
covenant was rightly stated ; that the immediate worship 
of images and saints was condemned, and that purgatory 
was left uncertain : but the necessity of auricular confes- 
sion and the corporeal presence, the doing reverence to 
images and praying to saints, were of hard digestion to 
them ; yet they rejoiced to see some grosser abuses re- 
moved, and a reformation once, set on foot. The popish 
party, on the other hand, were sorry to see four sacra- 
ments passed over in silence, and the trade in masses for 
the dead put down. 

At the same time other things were in consultation, 
though not finished. Cranmer offered a paper to the king, 
exhorting him to proceed to further reformation, and that 
nothing should be determined without clear proofs irom 
scripture, the departing from which had been the occasion 
of ail the errors that had been in the church. Many things 
were now acknowledged to be erroneous, for which some 
not long before had suffered death. He therefore proposed 
several points to be discussed, as, Whether there were a 
Durgatory 1 Whether departed saints ought to be invo- 
cated, or tradition to be believed 1 Whether images ought 
to be considered only as representations of history? and 
vVhether it were lawful for the clergy to marry 1 He 
orayed the King not to give judgment in these points till 



272 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



he heard them well examined : but all this was carried no 
further at that period. 

At this time visiters were appointed to survey all the 
lesser monasteries : they were to examine the state of 
their revenues and goods and take inventories of them, 
and to take their seals into their keeping ; they were to 
try how many of the religious would return to a secular 
course of life ; and these were to be sent to the archbishop 
of Canterbury, or the lord chancellor, and an allowance 
was to be given them for their journey ; but those who in- 
tended to continue in that state were to be removed to 
some of the great monasteries. A pension was also to be 
assigned to the abbot or prior during life ; and the visiters 
were particularly to examine what leases had been made 
during the last year. Ten thousand of the religious were 
by this means driven to seek for their livings with forty 
shillings, and a gown a man. Their goods and plate were 
estimated at £100,000, and the valued rents of their 
houses were £32,000 ; but they were above ten times as 
much. The churches and cloisters were in most places 
pulled down, and the materials sold. 

This procedure gave great discontent ; and the monks 
were now as much pitied, as they were formerly hated. 
The nobility and gentry, who provided for their younger 
children or friends by putting them in those sanctuaries, 
were sensible of their loss. The people, who as they tra- 
velled over the country found abbeys to be places of re- 
ception to strangers, saw what they were to lose. But the 
superstitious who thought their friends must now lie still 
in purgatory, without relief from the masses, were, out of 
measure offended. But to remove this discontent, Crom- 
well advised the king to sell these lands at very easy rates 
to the nobility and gentry, and to oblige them to keep up 
the wonted hospitality. This would both be grateful to 
them, and would engage them to assist the crown in the 
maintenance of the changes that had been made ; since 
their own interests would be interwoven with those of their 
sovereign. And, a clause in the act empowering the king 
to found anew such houses as he should think fit, there 
were fifteen monasteries and sixteen nunneries newly 
"ounded. These were bound to obey such rules as the 



FOX*S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 273 

king should send them, and to pay him tenths and first 
fruits. But all this did not pacify the people, for there 
was still a great outcry. The clergy studied much to in- 
flame the nation, and urged that a heretical prince de- 
posed by the pope was no more to be acknowledged, and 
that it was a part of the papal power to depose kings, and 
give away 'heir dominions. 

There were some injunctions given out by Cromwell, 
which increased this discontent. All churchmen were re- 
quired every Sunday for a quarter of a year, and twice 
every quarter after that, to preach against the pope's 
power, and to explain the six articles of the convocation. 
They were forbidden to extol images, relics, or pilgrim- 
ages ; but to exhort to works of charity. They were 
also required to teach the Lord's prayer, the creed, and 
the ten commandments in English, and to explain these 
carefully, and instruct tne children well in them. Thev 
were to perform the divine offices reverently, to studv the 
scriptures much, and be exemplary in their lives. Those 
who did not reside were to give the fortieth part of their 
income to the poor, and for every hundred pounds a year 
they were to maintain a scholar at some grammar-school, 
or the university ; and if the parsonage-house was in decay 
they were ordered to apply a fifth part of their benefice 
for repairing it. 

Rebellions in Lincolnshire and in Yorkshire, 

While these things were passing in the convocation, the 
common people, instigated by the priests, raised a rebellion 
in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, which at first appeared 
formidable, but by the prudent measures of the king and 
ministry was sooa suppressed, almost without the loss of 
blood. 

Impostures of images and relics discovered. 

They disclosed to the world many impostures about 
oretended relics, and wonderful images, to which pilgrim- 
ages had been made. At Reading was preserved the 
wing of an angel, who, according to the monks, brought 
over the point of the spear that pierced our Saviour's side; 



274 pox's book op martvrs. 

and as many pieces of the real cross were found, as whei 
'oined together would have made half a dozen. 

The " Rood of Grace," at Boxley, in Kent, had been 
much esteemed, and drawn many pilgrims to it, on account 
of its possessing the wonderful powers of bowing its head, 
rolling its eyes, smiling, and frowning, to the great asto- 
nishment and terror of the credulous multitude, who im- 
puted it to a divine power : but all this was now discover 
ed to be a cheat, and it was brought up to St. Paul's cross; 
where all the springs were shown by which its motions 
were governed. 

At Hales, in Gloucestershire, some of the blood of 
Christ was shown in a vial ; and it was believed that 
none could see it who were in mortal sin. Those who 
could bestow liberal presents were, of course, gratified, by 
being led to believe that they, were in a state of grace. 
This miracle consisted in the blood of a duck renewed 
every week, put in a vial, very thick on one side and thin 
on the other, and either side turned toward the pilgrim, 
as the priests were satisfied or not with his oblations. Se- 
veral other similar impostures were discovered, which 
contributed much to the undeceiving of the people. 

The rich shrine of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury was 
destroyed, and an immense quantity of gold and precious 
stones, offered by the deluded victims of superstition in 
honour of that factious priest and '* saint after the pope's 
own heart," were confiscated and carried away. 

When these proceedings were known at Rome, the pope 
immediately fulminated against the king all the thunders 
of his spiritual store-house ; absolved his subjects from 
their allegiance, and his allies from their treaties with him; 
and exhorted all Christians to make war against and ex- 
tirpate him from the face of the earth. But the age of 
crusades was past, and this display of impotent malice pro- 
duced only contempt in the minds of the king and his 
advisers, who steadily proceeded in the great work of re- 
formation ; and the translation of the Bible into English 
being now completed, it was printed and ordered to be 
read in all churches, with permission for every person to 
read it who might be so disposed. 

But, notwithstanding the king's disagreement with the 
pope on many subjects, there was one point on which 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 276 

(hey were alike — they were bo'.h intolerant, furious bigots , 
And while the former was excommunicated as a heretic 
ne was himself equally zealous in rooting out heresy, anc 
burning all who presumed to depart from the standard ol 
faith which he had established 

Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, strengthened this, dis 
position of the king, and persuaded him, under the pretex 
of a zeal for religion, to persecute the Sacramentarists, o 1 
those who d j lied the corporeal presence in the sacrament 

3Iartyrdom of John Lambert. 

In consequence of this determination, John Lambert, a 
teacher of languages in London, who had drawn up ten 
arguments against the tenets of Dr. Taylor, on the above 
subject, as delivered in a sermon at St. Peter's church, 
and presented them to the Doctor, was brought before tW. 
archbishop's court to defend his writings ; and, having 
appealed to the king, the royal theologian, who was proud 
of every occasion of displaying his talents and learning 
r solved to hear him in person. He therefore issued a 
commission, ordering all his nobility and bishops to repaii 
to London, to assist him against heretics. 

A day was appointed for the disputation, when a great 
number of persons of all ranks assembled to witness th« 
proceedings, and Lambert was brought from his prison by 
a guard, and placed directly opposite to the king. 

Henry being seated on his throne, and surrounded by 
the peers, bishops, and judges, regarded the prisoner with 
a stern countenance, and then commanded Day, bishop ol 
Chichester, to state the occasion of the present assembly. 

The bishop made a long oration, stating that, although 
the king had abolished the papal authority in England, it 
was not to be supposed that he would allow heretics with 
impunity to disturb and trouble the church cf which he 
was the head. He had therefore determined to punish all 
schismatics ; and being willing to have the advice of his 
bishops and counsellors on so great an occasion, had as- 
sembled them to hear the arguments in the present case. 

. The oration being concluded, the king ordered Lambert 
to ^oclare his opinion as to the sacrament of the Lord's 



276 FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

Supper, which he did, bv denying it to be the bodv of 
Christ. 

The king then commanded Cranmer to refute his as- 
sertion, which the latter attempted : but was interrupted 
by Gardiner, who vehemently interposed, and, being una- 
ble to bring argument to his aid, sought by abuse and 
virulence to overpower his antagonist, who was not allowed 
to answer the taunts and insults of the bishop. 

Tonstal and Stokesly followed in the same course, and 
Lambert, beginning to answer them, was silenced by the 
king. The other bishops then each made a speech in 
confutation of one of Lambert's arguments, till the whole 
ten were answered, or rather, railed against ; for he was 
not permitted to defend them, however misrepresented. 

At last} when the day was passed, and torches began to 
he lighted, the king desiring to break up this pretended 
disputation, said to Lambert, "What sayest thou now, 
after all these great labours which thou hast taken upon 
thee, and all the reasons and instructions of these learned 
men'? Art thou not yet satisfied 1 Wilt thou live or die? 
What sayest thou t Thou hast yet free choice." 

Lambert answered, " I yield and submit myself wholly 
unto the will of your majesty." " Then," said the king, 
" commit thyself unto the hands of God, and not into 
mine." 

Lambert replied, " I commend my soul into the hands 
of God, but my body I wholly yield and submit unto your 
clemency." To which the king ansv/ered, " If you do 
commit yourseF unto my judgment, you must die, for 1 
will not be a patron unto heretics ;" and, turning to Crom- 
well, he said, " Read the sentence of condemnation against 
him," which he accordingly did. 

Upon the day appointed for this holy martyr to suffer, 
he was brought out of the prison at eight o'clock in the 
morning to the house of Cromwell, and carried into his 
inner chamber, where, it is said, Cromwell desired his for- 
giveness for what he had done. Lambert being at las., 
admonished th;t the hour of his death was at hand, and 
being brought out of the chamber into the hall, saluted the 
gentlemen present, and sat down to breakfast with them, 
snowing neither sadness nor fear. When breakfast Was 



/>OX*S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 277 

ended, he was> carried straight to the place of execution at 
Smithfield. 

The manner of his death was dreadful ; for after his 
legs were consumed and burned up to the stumps, and but 
a small fire was left under him, two of the inhuman mon- 
sters who stood on each side of him, pierced him with their 
halberds, and lifted him up as far as the chain would reach ; 
while he, raising his half consumed hands cried unto the 
people in these words : " None but Christ, none but 
Christ ;" and so btlhg let down again from their halberds, 
fell into the fire and there ended his life 

The popish party greatly triumphed at this event, and 
endeavoured to improve it. They persuaded the king of 
the good effects it would have on his people, who would in 
this see his zeal for the faith ; and they forgot not to mag- 
nify all that he had said, as if it had been uttered by an 
oracle, which proved him to be both " Defender of the 
Faith and Supreme Head of the Church." All this 
wrought so much on the king, that he resolved to call a 
parliament for the contradictory purposes of suppressing 
the still remaining monasteries, and extirpating the " new 
opinions." 

The Act oftne Six Articles. 

The parliament accordingly met on the 28th of April, 
1538 ; and after long debates, passed what was called " a 
bill of religion," containing six articles, by which it was 
declared, that the elements in the sacrament were the real 
body and blood of Christ ; that communion was necessary 
only in one kind ; that priests ought not to marry ; that 
vows of chastity ought to be observed ; that private masses 
were lawful and useful ; and that auricular confession was 
necessary. 

This act gave great satisfaction to the popish party, and 
induced them to consent more readily to the act for sup- 
pressing the monasteries, which immediately followed ; by 
virtue of which, their total dissolution soon after took 
place. The king founded six new bishoprics from a small 
portion of their immense revenues, and lavished the re- 
mainder on his profligate courtiers and favourites. 

Tn 1540 a bill w^s passed tor the suppression of the 
24 



278 

Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, both in England and 
Ireland. 

Fall of Cromwell. 

In this year, also, Cromwell, who had so lcrg been a 
favourite of the king, and had held the highest cjfices, was 
suddenly disgraced, and committed to the Towe . He had 
many enemies ; the nobility, from jealousy at beholding a 
man of obscure birth promoted to the peerage, and enjoy- 
ing great power and influence ; and the popish clergy 
from the belief that the suppression of the monasteries and 
the innovations on their religion were principally produced 
by his counsels. The fickle tyrant whom he had so lonp 
and faithfully served, was also displeased with him as the 
adviser of his marriage with Anne of Cleves, whom he 
was now anxious to get rid of, in order to obtain the hand 
of Catharine Howard, niece of the duke of Norfolk. He 
suspected '.t\m likewise of secretly encouraging an cpoo- 
sition to the six articles, and hoped, by sacrificing a man 
wno was obnoxious to the catholics, to regain their affec- 
tions, forfeited by his sanguinary and rapacious pro- 
ceedings. 

Cromwell experienced the common fate of fallen mi- 
nisters ; his pretended friends forsook him, and his ene- 
mies pursued their revenge against him without opposition, 
except from Cranmer, who, with a rare fidelity, dared, 
to avow an attachment to him, even at this time, and 
wrote a very earnest letter to the king in his favour. But 
Henry was not easily turned from his purpose, and being 
resolved on the ruin of Cromwell, was not to be dissuaded 
from his design. 

In the house of lords a bill of attainder was passed with 
the most indecent haste ; but in the commons it met with 
opposition, and, after a delay of ten days, a new bill was 
frtmed, and sent up to the lords, in which Cromwell was 
designated as " the most corrupt traitor ever known;" his 
treasons, as afterward specified, consisting in the counte- 
nance and favour he had shown to the reformers. On 
these grounds he was attainted both for treason and heresy. 

The king now proceeded with his divorce ; and, although 
there was no reason to dispute the legality of his marriage 



fox's book of martyrs. 279 

with Anne of Cleves, still, as she was disagreeable to his 
royal taste, his sycophants were too well taught to offer 
the least opposition to his wishes. The convocation unani- 
mously dissolved the marriage, and gave him liberty to 
marry again ; indeed it is probable, that if he had desired 
to have two or more wives at once, the measure would 
have been sanctioned, so base and servile were the cour- 
tiers and priests by whom this monstrous tyrant was sur- 
rounded. The queen continued to reside in England, 
being declared " The adopted sister" of the king, and 
having a pension of £4000 per annum. 

Cromwell was executed on the 28th of July, and his fall 
gave a great check to the reformation in England ; Cran- 
mer being left almost alone to struggle against a host of 
enemies. 

Notwithstanding the power of the pope was at an end 
in the kingdom, and a great progress was already made 
toward a reformation, still a spirit of persecution was 
cherished by the reformers themselves, against all such as 
dared to think more liberally than themselves, and in this 
were they encouraged by the artful insinuations of the 
papists, who represented to the king the good effects that 
would result from such measures in effecting the suppres- 
sion of heresy, and bringing about a reconciliation with 
the pope. The martyrdom of Lambert was therefore 
soon followed by that of Dr. Barnes, Thomas Garret, 
William Jerome, Bernard and Merton, Robert Testwood, 
Anthony Pearsons, Adam Damlip, Anne Askew, Thomas 
Benet, with a great number of others, for presuming to 
differ from the king on the subject of the real body and 
blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and 
some other points. These all suffered martyrdom by 
burning ; the particulars of the first three we have only 
room to mention. 

Martyrdom of Dr. Robert Barnes. 

Dr. Barnes was educated in the university of Louvain, 
in Brabant. On his return to England he went to Cam- 
bridge, where he was made prior and master of the house of 
the Augustines. The darkest ignorance pervaded the uni- 
versity at the time of his arrival there : but he, zealous tc 



280 fox's book of martyrs. 

promote knowledge and truth, began to instruct the stu 
dents in the classical languages, and, with the assistance 
of Parnel, his scholar, whom he had brought from Louvain, 
soon caused learning to flourish, and the university to bea. 
a very different aspect. 

These foundations being laid, he began to read openly 
the epistles of St. Paul, and to teach in greater purity the 
doctrine of Christ. He preached and disputed with great 
warmth against the luxuries of the higher clergy, particu- 
larly against cardinal Wolsey, and the lamentable hypo- 
crisy of the times. But still he remained ignorant of the 
great cause of these evils, namely, the idolatry and super- 
stition of the church ; and while he declaimed against the 
stream, he himself drank at the spring, and bowed down 
to idols. At length, happily becoming acquainted with 
Bilney, he was by that martyr wholly converted unto 
Christ. 

The first sermon he preached of this truth was on the 
Sunday before Christmas-day, at St. Edward's church, in 
Cambridge. His theme was the epistle of the same Sun- 
day, " Gaudete in Domino" &c. For this sermon he 
was immediately accused of heresy by two fellows of 
King's Hall, before the vice-chancellor. Then Dr. Notto- 
ris, a bitter enemy to Christ, moved Barnes to recant ; but 
he refused, as appears in his book which he wrote to king 
Henry in English, confuting the judgment of cardinal 
Wolsey, and the residue of the papistical bishops. 

After preaching some time, Barnes was arrested openly 
in the convocation-house : brought to London, and the 
next morning carried to the palace of cardinal Wolsey, 
at Westminster, where after waiting the whole day, \\2 
was at night brought before the cardinal in his chamber 
of state. "Is this," said Wolsey, " Dr Barnes, who is 
accused of heresy ?" — " Yes, and please your grace, " re- 
plied the cardinal's secretary, " and I trust yov will find 
him reformable, for he is learned and wise.' 

" What, Mr. Doctor," said Wolsey, " had you not a 
sufficient scope in the scriptures to teach the people, but 
that my golden shoes, my poll-axes, my pillars, my golden 
cushions, my crosses, did so sore offend you, that you must 
make us ricliculum caput amongst the people, who that 
day laughed us to scorn ? Verily it was a sermon fitter to 



fox's book of martyrs. 281 

ee preached on a stage than in a pulpit ; for at last you 
said, * I wear a pair of red gloves, I should say bloody 
gloves,' quoth you, ' that I should not be cold in the midst 
of my ceremonies.' " 

Dr. Barnes answered, " I spa«_ nothing but the truth, 
out of the scriptures, according to my conscience, and 
according to the old doctors." And then he delivered him 
six sheets of paper written to confirm and corroborate his 
sentiments. 

The cardinal received them smiling, saying, " We per- 
ceive then that you intend to stand to your articles, and to 
show your learning." 

" Yea," said Barnes, " that I do by God's grace, with 
your lordship's favour." 

He answered, " Such as you bear us little favour and 
the catholic church. I will ask you a question ; whether 
do you think it more necessary that I should have all this 
royalty, because I represent the king's majesty in all the 
high courts of this realm, to the terror and keeping down 
of all rebellious treasons, traitors, all the wicked and 
corrupt members of this commonwealth, or to be as sim- 
ple as you would have us, to sell all these things, and to 
give them to the poor, who shortly will cast them into the 
dirt ; and to pull away this princely dignity, which is a ter- 
ror to the wicked, and to follow your council 1" 

" I think it necessary," said Barnes, " to be sold and 
given to the poor. For this is not becoming your calling ; 
nor is the king's majesty maintained by your pomp and 
poll-axes, but by God, who saith, kings and their majesty 
reign and stand by me." 

Then answered the cardinal, " Lo, master doctors, here 
is the learned wise man that you told me of." Then they 
kneeled down and said, " We desire your grace to be good 
unto him, for he will be reformable." 

" Then," said he, " stand you up ; for your sakes and 
the university we will be good unto him. — How say vnu, 
master doctor, do you not know that I am able to dispense 
in all matters concerning religion within this realm, as much 
as the pope may'?" He said, " T know it to be so." 

" Will you then be ruled by us 1 and we will do ali 
things for your honesty, and for the honesty of the uni- 
versity." " 24* 



282 fox's book of martyrs. 

He answered, " I thank your grace for your good wil j 
I will stick to the holy scripture, and to God's book, ac 
cording to the simple talent that God hath lent me." 

" Well," said he, " thou shalt have thy learning tried at 
the uttermost, and thou shalt have the law." 

He was then committed to the custody of the sergeant 
at arms, who had brought him to London and bj' whom 
he was the next morning brought before the bishops ; who, 
on examining the articles of his faith, which he had deli 
vered to the cardinal, asked him if he would sign them, 
which he did, and was ihereupon committed to the Fleet. 

On the Saturday following he was again brought before 
the bishops, who called upon him to know whether he 
would abjure or burn. Pie was then greatly agitated, and 
felt inclined rather to burn than abjure ; but was persuaded 
by some persons to abjure, which he at length consented 
to do, and the abjuration being put into his hand, he abjured 
as it was there written, and then he subscribed it wi*'i 
his own hand; yet his judges would scarcely receive hw*« 
into the bosom of the church as they termed it Then they 
put him to an oath, and charged him to do all that the) 
commanded him, which he accordingly promised. 

He was then again committed to the Fleet ; and the next 
morning was brought to St. Paul's church, with five others 
who had abjured. Here the cardinal, bishops, and clergy 
being assembled in great pomp, the bishop of Rochester 
preached a sermon against the doctrines of Luther and 
Barnes, during which the latter was commanded to kneel 
down and ask forgiveness of God, and the catholic church, 
and the cardinal's grace ; after which he was ordered, at 
the end of the sermon, to declare that he was used mon. 
charitably than he deserved, his heresies being so horrible 
and so detestable : once more he kneeled, desiring of the 
people forgiveness and to pray for him. This farce be 
ing ended, the cardinal departed under a canopy, with thf 
bishops and mitred abbots, who accompanied him to the 
outer gate of the church, when they returned. Then 
Barnes, and the others who had abjured, were carried 
thrice about the fire, after which they were brought to 
the bishops, and kneeled down for absolution. The bishop 
of Rochester standing up, declared that Dr. Barnes with 
the others were received into the church again, Aftei 



263 

which tney were recommitted to the Fleet during the car- 
dinal's pleasure. 

Dr. Barnes having remained in the Fleet half a year, 
was placed in the custody of the Austin Friars in London ; 
from whence he was removed to the Austin Friars of 
Northampton, there to be burned ; of which intention, 
however, he was perfectly ignorant. Being informed of 
the base designs of his enemies, however, he, by a strata- 
gem, escaped, and reached Antwerp, where he dwelt in 
safety, and was honoured with the friendship of the best 
and most eminent reformers of the time, as Luther, Me- 
lancthon, the duke of Saxony, and others. Indeed, so 
great was his reputation, that the king of Denmark sent 
him as one of his ambassadors to England; when sir Tho- 
mas More, at that time lord chancellor, wished to have 
him apprehended on the former charge. Henry, however, 
would not allow of this, considering it as a breach of the 
most sacred laws, to offer violence to the person of an 
ambassador, under any pretence. Barnes therefore re- 
mained in England unmolested ; and departed again with- 
out restraint. He returned' to Wittemberg, where he re- 
mained to forward his works in print which he had begun, 
after which he returned again to England, and continued 
a faithful preacher in London, being well entertained and 
promoted during the ascendency of Anne Boleyn. He 
was afterward sent ambassador by Henry to the duke of 
Cleves, upon the business of the marriage between Anne 
of Cleves and the king; and gave great satisfaction in 
every duty which was entrusted to him. 

Not long after the arrival of Gardiner from France, Dr. 
Barnes and other reformed preachers, were apprehended 
and carried before the king at Hampton Court, where 
Barnes was examined. The king being desirous to bring 
about an agreement between him and Gardiner, granted 
him leave to go home with the bishop to confer with him. 
But they not agreeing, Gardiner and his party sought to 
entangle and entrap Barnes and his friends in further dan- 
ger, which not long after was brought to pass. For, b) 
certain complaints made to the king of them, they were 
enjoined to preach three sermons the following Easter ai 
the Spittle ; at which sermons, besides other reporters 
which were sent thither, Stephen Gardiner also was there 



284 fox's book of martyrs. 

present, sitting with the mayor, either to bear record of 
their recantation, or else, as the Pharisees came to Christ, 
to ensnare them in their talk, if they should speak any 
thing amiss. Barnes preached first ; and at the conclu- 
sion of his sermon, requested Gardiner, if he thought he 
had said nothing contradictory to truth, to hold up his 
hand in the face of all present ; upon which Gardiner im- 
mediately held up his finger. Notwithstanding this, they 
were all three sent for to Hampton Court, whence they 
were conducted to the Tower, where they remained til) 
they were brought out to death. 

Story of Thomas Garret. 

Thomas Garret was a curate of London. About the 
year 1526, he came to Oxford, and brought with him sun- 
dry books in Latin, treating of the Scriptures, with the 
first part of Unio dissidcntium, and Tindal's first trans- 
lation of the New Testament in English, which books he 
sold to several scholars in Oxford. 

After he had been there awhile, and had disposed of 
those books, news came from London that he was sought 
for in that city, to be apprehended as a heretic, and to be 
imprisoned for selling those heretical publications, as they 
were termed. For it was not unknown to cardinal Wol- 
sey, the bishop of London, and others, that Mr. Garret 
had a great number of those books, and. that he was gone 
to Oxford to sell them, to such as he knew to be lovers o; 
the gospel. Wherefore they determined to make a privj 
search through all Oxford, to apprehend and imprison him, 
and to burn all his books, and him too if they could. But, 
happily, one of the proctors gave Mr. Garret secret warn- 
ing of this privy search, and advised that he should imme- 
diately and privately depart from Oxford. 

By means of another friend, a curac} r was procured foi 
him in Dorsetshire, and he set out for that country, but 
being waylaid by his enemies, was unable to proceed, and 
therefore returned to Oxford, where lie was, on the same 
night, apprehended in his bed, and was ordered, by the 
commissary of the University, to be confined in his own 
chamber, till further directions were received respecting 
him. He escaped in disguise, but was retaken, and being 



«85 

c-onvicted as a licretic, carried a fagot in token of his ab 
juration, at St. Mary's church, in Oxford ; after which wc 
neet with nothing further respecting him till his apprehen- 
sion with Dr. Barnes. 

Story of William Jerome, 

William Jerome was vicar of Stepney, and being con- 
vinced of, and disgusted at, the errors of the church of 
Rome, he preached with great zeal, and set up the puro 
and simple doctrines of the gospel against the perversions 
and traditions of man. Thus proceeding, he soon became 
known to the enemies of truth, who watched him with ma- 
lignant jealousy. 

At length, in a sermon ai St. Paul's, on the fourth Sun- 
day in Lent, wherein he dwelt upon the justification by 
faith, he so offended the legal preachers of the day, that 
he was summoned before the king at Westminster, and 
there accused of heresy. 

It was urged against him, that he had insisted, accord- 
ing to St. Paul, in Galatians iv. " That the children of 
Sarah (allegorical^ used for the children of the promise) 
were all born free, and, independent of baptism, or of 
penance, were, through faith, made heirs of God." A 
Dr. Wilson argued against him, and strongly opposed this 
doctrine. But Jerome defended it w r ith all the force of 
truth, and said, " that although good works were the 
means of salvation, yet that they followed as a consequence 
of faith, whose fruits they were, and which discovered their 
root, even as good fruit proves a good tree." 

Notwithstanding his arguments, so inveterate were his 
enemies, and so deluded was the king, that he was com 
mitted to the Tower, in company with the other two soi 
diers of Christ, Barnes and Garret. 

Burning of Barnes Garret and Jerome 

Here they remained, while a process ensued against 
them by the king's council in parliament, by whom, with- 
out any hearing, or knowledge of their fate, they were at- 
tainted of heresy, and sentenced to be burned. On the 
30th of the following June, therefore, they were brought 



286 pox's book op martyrs. 

from the Tower to Smithfield, where, before they were 
committed to the fire, they addressed the people. 

44 I am come hither," said Dr. Barnes, " to be burned a? 
a heretic, and you shall hear my belief, whereby you may 
perceive what erroneous opinions I hold. God I take to 
record, I never (to my knowledge) taught any erroneous 
doctrine, but only those things which scripture led me 
unto ; neither in my sermons have I ever maintained or 
given occasion for any insurrection ; but with all diligence 
evermore did I study to set forth the glory of God, the 
obedience to our sovereign lord the king, and the true 
and sincere religion of Christ ; and now hearken to my 
faith. 

44 I believe in the holy and blessed Trinity, three per- 
sons, and one God, that created and made all the world ; 
and that this blessed Trinity sent down the second person, 
Jesus Christ, into the womb of the most blessed and purest 
virgin Mary. I believe that he was conceived of the Holy 
Ghost, and took flesh of her, and that he suffered hunger, 
thirst, cold, and other passions of our body, sin excepted, 
according to the saying of St. Peter, 4 He was made in all 
things like to his brethren, except sin.' And I believe 
that this his death and passion was the sufficient ransom 
for sin. And I believe, that through his death he overcame 
sin, death, and hell ; and that there is none other satisfac- 
tion unto the Father, but this his death and passion only ; 
and that no work of man did deserve anything of God, 
but his passion only, as touching our justification; for 1 
know the best work that ever I performed is impure and 
imperfect. 

He then, lifting up his hands, prayed God to forgive 
him his trespasses, saying, 44 I confess, that my evil 
thoughts and cogitations are innumerable ; wherefore 1 
beseech thee, O Lord, not to enter into judgment with me, 
for, if thou straitly mark our iniquities, who is able to 
abide thy judgment 1 Wherefore I trust in no good work 
trat ever t did, but only in the d/ .th of Christ. I do not 
doubt but through him to inherit the kingdom of heaven. 
But imagine not, that I speak against good works, for they 
are to be done, and verily they that do them not, shall 
never come into the kingdom of God. We must do them, 
because they are commanded us of God, to show and se 



fox's book oi MAkTYks. 287 

forth oar profession, not to deserve or merit; for that is 
only by the death of Christ. 

" I believe that there is a holy church, and a company 
of all them that do profess Christ ; and that all who have 
suffered and confessed his name, are saints, and that they 
praise and laud God in heaven, more than I or any man's 
tongue can express." 

A person present asked him his opinion upon praying 
to saints. " 1 believe," said he, " they are in heaven 
with God, and that they are worthy of all the honour that 
scripture willeth them to have. But I say, throughout 
scripture we are not commanded to pray to any saints. 
Therefore I neither can nor will preach to you that saints 
ought to be prayed unto ; for then should I preach unto you 
a doctrine of mine own head. Notwithstanding, whether 
they pray for us or no, that I refer to God. And if saints 
do pray for us, then I trust to pray for you within this 
half hour, Mr. Sheriff, and for every Christian living in 
the faith of Christ, and dying in the same as a saint. 
Wherefore, if the dead may for the quick, I will surely 
pray for you." 

Then said he to the sheriff, " Have ye any articles 
against me for which I am condemned 1" The sheriff 
answered, " No." Then said he, " Is there here any mar. 
else that knoweth wherefore I die, or that by my preach- 
ing hath taken any error X Let them now speak, and I 
will make them answ T er." But no man answered. Then 
said he, " Well, I am condemned by the law to die, and 
as I understand by an act of parliament, but wherefore I 
cannot tell ; perhaps it is for heresy ; for we are like to 
burn. But they that have been the occasion of it, I pray 
God forgive them, as I would be forgiven myself. And 
Dr. Stephen, bishop of Winchester, if he have sought or 
wrought this my death, either by word or deed, I pray God 
to forgive him as heartily, as freely, as charitably, and as 
sincerely, as Christ forgave them that put him to death 
And if any of the council, or any other, have sought or 
wrought it through malice or ignorance, I pray God for- 
give their ignorance, and illuminate their eyes, that they 
may see and ask mercy for it. I beseech you all to praj 
for the king's grace, as I have done ever since I was in 
prison, and do now, that God mav give him prosperity, 



288 fox's book of martyrs. 

and that he may long reign among you ; and after hira 
that godly prince Edward, that he may finish those things 
which his father hath begun. I have been reported to be 
a preacher of sedition, and disobedience unto the king ; 
but here I say to you, that you are ali bound by the com- 
mandment of God to obey your prince with all humility, 
and with all your heart, and that not only for fear of the 
sword, but also for conscience sake before God." 

He then begged all men to forgive him ; to bear witness 
that he detested and abhorred all evil opinions and doc- 
trine ? against the word of God, and that he died in the 
faith of Jesus Christ, by whom he doubted not but to be 
saved. With these words, he desired all the spectators to 
pray for him, and then he prepared himself to suffer. 

Jrrome and Garret professed in like manner their be- 
'ief, reciting all the articles of the Christian faith, briefly 
declaring their minds upon every article, as the time would 
suffer, whereby the people might understand that there 
was no cause nor error in their faith for which they could 
justly be condemned ; protesting, moreover, that they de- 
nied nothing that was either in the Old or New Testament, 
set forth by the king, whom they prayed the Lord long to 
continue among them, with his son prince Edwaid. 

Jerome then addressed the people as follows: I say unlo 
you, good brethren, that God hath bought us all with no 
small price, neither with gold nor silver, or other such 
things of small value, but with his most precious blood. 
Bo not unthankful therefore to him again, but do as much 
as to Christian men belongeth to fulfil his commandments; 
that is, love your brethren. Love hurteth no man, love 
fulfilleth all things. If God hath sent thee plenty, help thy 
neighbour that hath need. Give him good counsel. If he 
lack, consider if thou wert in necessity, thou wouldst gladly 
be refreshed. And again, bear your cross with Christ. 
Consider what reproof, slander, and reproach, he suffered of 
his enemies, and how patiently he suffered all things. Con 
sider, that all that Christ did was of his mere goodness, and 
not of our deserving. For if we could merit our own sal- 
vation, Christ would not have died for us. But for Adam's 
breaking of God's precepts, we had been all lost, if Christ 
had not redeemed us again. And like as Adam broke the 
precepts, and was driven out of Paradise, so we, *f w^ 



fox's book of martyrs. 289 

break God's commandments, shall have damnation, if we 
do not repent and ask mercy. Now, therefore, let all 
Christians put no trust nor confidence in their own works, 
but in the blood of Christ, to whom I commit my soul to 
guide, beseeching you all to pray to God forme, and for my 
brethren here present with me, that our souls, leaving these 
wretched bodies, may constantly depart in the true faith 
of Christ." 

After he had concluded, Garret thus spoke : '* I also de- 
test and refuse all heresies and errors, and if either by 
negligence or ignorance, I have taught or maintained any, 
T am sorry for it, and ask God mercy. Or if I have been 
vehement or rash in preaching, whereby any person hath 
taken offence, error or evil opinion, I desire of him, and 
all other persons whom I have any way offended, forgive- 
ness. Notwithstanding, to my remembrance, I have never 
preached wittingly or willingly, anything against God's 
holy word, or contrary to the true faith ; but have ever en- 
deavoured, with my little learning and wit, to set forth the 
honour of God and the right obedience to his laws, and 
also the king's : if I could have done better I would. 
Wherefore, Lord, if I have taken in hand to do that thing 
which I could not perfectly perform, I desire thy pardon 
for my bold presumption. And I pray God send the king's 
grace good and godly counsel, to his gloiy, to the king's 
honour, and the increase of virtue in this realm. And thus 
do I now yield my soul up unto Almighty God, trusting 
and believing, that he of his infinite mercy, according to 
his promise made in the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, 
will take it and pardon all my sins, of which I ask him 
mercy, and desire you all to pray with and for me, that I 
may patiently suffer this pain, and die in true faith, hope 
and charity." 

The three martyrs then took each other by the hand, and 
after embracing, submitted themselves to the tormentors, 
who, fastening them to the stake, soon lighted the fagcts, 
and terminated their mortal life and care. 

25 



£90 tfOX's BdOi£ 6$ MARTYR*. 

CHAPTER VL 

Attempt against Cranmer. 

The cruelty of the measures of the king against the iis- 
senters hinted at in the preceding chapter, gave the popish 
party great hopes of succeeding, and to complete their 
victory, they attempted the destruction of Cranmer, and 
the queen, whom they considered the greatest obstacles to 
their success. They persuaded the king that Cranmer 
was the source of all the heresies in England ; but Henry's 
esteem for him was such, that no one would appear to give 
evidence against him ; they therefore desired that he might 
be committed to the Tower, and then it would appear how 
many would inform against him 

The king seemed to approve this plan, and they re- 
solved to execute it the next day : but in the night Henry 
sent for Cranmer, and told him what was resolved concern- 
ing him. Cranmer thanked the king for giving him notice 
of it and submitted to it, only desiring that he might be 
heard in answer for himself; and that he might have im- 
partial judges, competent to decide. Henry was surprised 
to see him so little concerned in his own preservation: but 
told him, since he took so little care of himself, that he 
must take care of him. He therefore gave him instruc- 
tions to appear before the council, and to desire to see his 
accusers before he should be sent to the Tower ; and that 
he might be used by them, as they would desire to be used 
in a similar case ; and if he could not prevail by the force 
of reason, then he was to appeal to the king in person, and 
was to show the royal seal ring, which he took from his 
linger, and gave him, which they would know so well that 
they would do nothing after they once saw it. 

Accordingly on being summoned next morning, he 
came over to Whitehall ; there he was detained, with great 
insolence, in the lobby of the council chamber before he 
was called in ; but when that was done, and he had acted 
as the king had ordered him, and at last showed the ring, 
his enemies rose in great confusion, and went to the king. 
He upbraided them severely for what they had done, and 
expressed his esteem and kindness for Cranmer in such 



fox's book op martyrs. 291 

terms, that they were glad to get off, by pretending that 
they had no other design but that of having his innocence 
declared by a public trial. From this vain attempt they 
were so convinced of the king's unalterable favour to him, 
that they forbore any further designs against him. 

Bin what they could not effect against Cranmer, they 
thought might be more safely tried against the queen, who 
was known to love the " new learning," as the reformation 
was then called. She used to have sermons in her privy 
chamber, which co^d not be so secretly carried, but that 
it came to the knowledge of her royal spouse ; yet her 
conduct in all other things was so exact, and she expressed 
such a tender care of the king's person, that it was ob- 
served she had gained much upon him ; but his peevishness 
growing with his distempers, made him sometimes impa- 
tient even to her. 

He used often to talk with her of matters of religion, 
and sometimes she sustained the argument for the reform- 
ers so strenuously, that he was offended at it : yet as soon 
as that appeared she let it fall. But once the debate con- 
tinued long, the king expressed his displeasure at it to Gar- 
diner, when she went away. The crafty bishop took hold 
of this opportunity to persuade the king that she was a 
great cherisher of heretics. Wriothesly joined with him 
in the same artifice ; and filled the angry king's head with 
suspicions, insomuch that he signed the articles upon which 
she was to be impeached. But the chancellor carelessly 
dropping the paper, it happened to be taken up by one of 
the queen's friends, who carried it to her. 

The next night after supper, she went into the king's 
bedchamber, where she found him sitting and talking with 
certain gentlemen. He very courteously welcomed her, 
and breaking oft' his talk with the gentlemen, began of 
himself, contrary to his usual manner, to enter into talk 
of religion, seeming as it were desirous to hear the queen's 
opinion on certain matters which he mentioned. 

The queen, perceiving to what this tended, mildly and 
vith much apparent deference, answered him as follows : 

" Your Majesty," says she, " doth right well know, 
aeither am I myself ignorant, what great imperfection and 
weakness by our first creation is allotted unto us women, 
to be ordained and appointed as inferior, and subject unto 



292 

man as our head, from which head all our direction ought 
to proceed ; and that as God made man to his own shape 
and likeness, whereby he, being endued with more special 
gifts of perfection, might rather be stirred to the contem- 
plation of heavenly things, and to the earnest endeavour 
to obey his commandments ; even so also made he woman 
of man, of whom, and by whom, she is to be governed, 
commanded, and directed ; whose womanly weaknesses 
and natural imperfection ought to be tolerated, aided, and 
borne withal, so that by his wisdom such things as be lack- 
ing in her ought to be supplied. 

" Since thence, therefore, that God hath appointed such 
a natural difference between man and woman, and your 
majesty being so excellent in gifts and ornaments of wis- 
dom, and I a silly poor woman, so much inferior in all re- 
spects of nature unto you, how then cometh it now to pass 
that your majesty, in such diffuse causes of religion, will 
seem to require my judgment? which, when I have uttered 
and said what I can, yet must I, and will I, refer my judg- 
ment in this and in all other cases, to your majesty's wis- 
dom, as my only anchor, supreme head and governor here 
on earth, next under God to lean unto.' 

" Not so, by Saint Mary," replied the king ; " you are 
become a doctor, Kate, to instruct us, as we take it, and 
not to be instructed or directed by us." 

" If your majesty take it so," said the queen, " then 
bath your majesty very much mistaken, who have ever 
been of the opinion, to think it very unseemly and pre- 
posterous for a woman to take upon her the office of an 
instructer, or teacher to her lord and husband, but rather 
to learn of her husband, and to fee taught by him ; and 
where I have, with your majesty's leave, heretofore been 
bold to hold talk with your majesty, wherein sometimes in 
opinions there hath seemed some difference, 1 have not 
done it so much to maintain opinion, as I did it rather to 
minister talk, not only to the end your majesty might with 
less grief pass over this painful time of your infirmity, 
being intentive to our talk, a*d hoping that your majesty 
should reap some ease thereby ; but also that I, hearing 
your majesty's learned discourse, might receive to myself 
some profit thereby ; wherein, I assure your majesty, I 
have not missed any part of my desire in that behalf. 



293 

always referring myself in all such matters unto your 
majesty as by ordinance of nature it is convenient for me 
10 do." 

" And is it even so, sweetheart ?" cried the king ; " and 
tended your arguments to no worse end 1 Then perfect 
friends we are now again, as ever at any time heretofore." 
And as he sat in his chair, embracing her in his arms, and 
kissing her, he added, that "it did him more good at that 
time to hear those words of her own mouth, than if he had 
heard present news of a hundred thousand pounds of 
money fallen unto him ;" and with tokens of great joy, and 
promises and assurances never again to mistake her, he 
entered into a very pleasant discourse with the queen, and 
the lords and gentlemen standing by ; and at last, the 
night being far advanced, he gave her leave to depart. 
And after she was gone, he greatly commended and praised 
her. 

The time formerly appointed for her being taken into 
custody, being come, the king, waited upon by two gentle- 
men only of his bedchamber, went into the garden, whither 
the queen also came, being sent for by the king himself, 
with three ladies attending her. Henry immediately entered 
into pleasant conversation with the queen and attendants ; 
when suddenly, in the midst of their mirth, the lord chan- 
cellor came into the garden with forty of the king's guard, 
intending to have taken the queen together with the three 
ladies to the Tower. The king, sternly beholding them, 
broke off his mirth with the queen, and stepping a little 
aside, called the chancellor to him, who upon his knees 
spake to the king, but what he said is not well known : it 
is, however, certain that the king's reply to him was, 
" Knave ! yea, arrant knave, beast, and fool !" and then 
he commanded him presently to begone out of his pre- 
sence ; which words, being vehemently spoken by the king, 
the queen and her ladies overheard them. 

The king, after the departure of the chance.lor and his 
guards, immediately returned to the queen; when sre per- 
ceiving him to be very much irritated, endeavoured to 
pacify him with kind words, in behalf of the lord chan- 
cellor, with whom he seemed to be offended, sa} ing, " That 
albeit she knew not what just cause his majesty had at 
25* 



294 FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

chat time to be offended with him ; yet she thought that 
ignorance, not wilfulness was the cause of his error." 

" Ah, poor soul," replied the king, "thou little knowest 
how ill he deserveth this grace at thy hands. On my word 
sweetheart, he hath been toward thee an arrant knave, and 
so let him go." Thus the design against her was frustrated, 
and Gardiner, who had promoted it lost the king's favour 
entirely. 

The King's Sickness and Death, 

The king's distemper had been long growing upon him. 
He was become so corpulent that he could not go up and 
down stairs, but was let down and drawn up by an engine, 
when he intended to walk in his garden. He had an ul- 
ceration in his leg, which gave him much pain, the humours 
of his body discharging themselves that way, till at last a 
dropsy came on. He had grown so fierce and cruel, that 
those about him were afraid to let him know that his death 
seemed near, lest they might have been adjudged guilty of 
treason, in foretelling his death ! 

His will was made ready, and signed by him on the 30th 
of December. He ordered Gardiner's name to be struck 
out from the list of his executors. When sir Anthony Brown 
endeavoured to persuade him not to put that disgrace on 
an old servant, he continued positive in it; for he said "he 
knew his temper and could govern him ; but it would not 
be in the power of others to do it, if lie were put in so 
high a trust." The most material tiling in the will, was, the 
preferring the children of his second sister, by Charles 
Brandon, duke of Suffolk, to the children of his eldest sis- 
ter the queen of Scotland, in the succession to the crown. 
On his deathbed he finished the foundation of Trinity 
College, in Cambridge, and of Christ's Hospital, near New- 
gate ; yet this last was not fully settled, till his son com- 
pleted what he had begun. 

On the 27th of January, 1547, his spirits sunk, and it 
was evident that he had not long to live. Sir Anthonv 
Denny took courage to tell him that d\eath was approaching 
and desired him to call on God for his mercy. He ex- 
pressed in general his sorrow for his past sins, and his trust 



pox's book of martyrs 295 

in the mercies of God in Christ Jesus. He ordered Cran- 
nier to he sent for, but was speechless before he arrived ; 
yet he gave a sign that he understood what he said to him, 
and soon after died, in the 56th year of his age, after he 
had reigned thirty-seven years and nine months. His 
death was concealed three days ; and the parliament con- 
tim^ed to sit till the 31st of January, when his decease was 
macie public. It is probable the Seymours, uncles to the 
young king, concealed it so long, till they made a party 
for securing the government in their own hands. 

The severities Henry used against many of his subjects, 
in matters of religion, made both sides write with great 
sharpness against him ; his temper was imperious and cruel, 
he was sudden and violent in his passions, and hesitated at 
nothing by which he could gratify either his lust or his re- 
venge. This was much provoked by the sentence of the 
pope against him, by the virulent books Cardinal Pole and 
others published, by the rebellions that were raised in Eng- 
land by the popish clergy, and the apprehensions he was in 
of the emperor's greatness, together with his knowledge 
of the fate of those princes, against whom the popes had 
thundered in former times ; all which made him think it 
necessary to keep his people under the terror of a severe 
government ; and by some public examples to secure the 
peace of the nation, and thereby to prevent a more pro- 
fuse effusion of blood, which might have otherwise followed 
if he had been more gentle ; and it was no wonder if, 
after the pope deposed him, he proceeded to great severi- 
ties against all who supported the papal authority. 

Almost the last act of his life was one of barbarous in- 
gratitude and monstrous tyranny. This was the execution 
of the earl of Surrey, a brave and accomplished nobleman, 
who had served him with zeal and fidelity, but was now 
sacrificed to the groundless suspicions of this gloomy tyrant, 
on the pretence of his having assumed the arms of Ed- 
ward the Confessor, which, from his being related to the 
royal family, he had a right to do, and which he had done 
during many years, without offence. Not satisfied with the 
death of this nobleman, the blood thirsty despot, now tot 
tering on the brink of the grave, determined to complete 
his worse than savage barbarity, by bringing to the bloclf 



296 fox's book of martyrs. 

the aged duke of Norfolk, father of his former victim, who 
had spent a long life, and expended a princely fortune, in 
his service. There being no charge on which to found an 
impeachment against him, a parliament was summoned to 
attaint him ; and so well did these servile wretches fulfil 
their inhuman master's expectations, that the bill of attain- 
der was passed in both houses in the short space of seven 
days ; and the royal assent being given by commission, 
January 27, the duke was ordered for execution on the 
next morning; but in the course of the night, the king 
was himself summoned before the tribunal of the eternal 
Judge. 



PART VI. 



Persecutions in Scotland, and Progress of the Reforma 
Hon during the reign of King Edward. 



CHAPTER I 

Persecutions in Scotland during the V5th and part of 
the 16th centuries. 

Having brought our account of the sufferings and mar 
tyrdoms of the English reformers down to the death ot 
Henry the Eighth, we shall now proceed to relate the cruel 
persecutions of God's faithful servants in Scotland to the 
same period ; but it will previously be necessary to give a 
short sketch of the progress of the reformation in that 
country. 

The long alliance between Scotland and France, haa 
rendered the two nations extremely attached to each other; 
and Paris was the place where the learned of Scotland 
had their education. Yet early in the fifteenth century 
learning was more encouraged in Scotland, and univ' i- 
ties were founded in several episcopal sees. About 



29. 

same time some of Wicklifle's followers began to show 
themselves in Scotland ; and an Englishman, named Res- 
by, was burnt in 1407 for teaching some opinions contrary 
to the pope's authority. 

Some years after that, Paul Craw, a Bohemian, who 
had been converted b}' H iss, was burnt for infusing the 
opinions of that martyr into some persons at St. Andrews. 

About the end of the fifteenth century, Lollardy, as it 
was then called, spread itself into many parts of the dio- 
cese of Glasgow, for which several persons of quality 
were accused ; but they answered the archbishop of tha+ 
see with so much boldness and truth, that he dismissed 
them, having admonished them to content themselves with 
the faith of the church, and to beware of new doctrines. 

The same spirit of ignorance, immorality, and supersti- 
tion, had overrun the church of Scotland that was so 
much complained of in other parts of Europe. The total 
neglect of the pastoral care, and the scandalous lives of 
the clergy, filled the people with such prejudices against 
them, that they were easily disposed to hearken to new 
preachers, among the most conspicuous of whom was Pa- 
trick Hamilton. 

Story and Martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton. 

This noble martyr was nephew, by his father, to the earl 
of Arran, and by his mother, to the duke of Albany. He 
was educated for the church, and would have been highly 
preferred, having an abbey given him for prosecuting his 
studies. But, going over to Germany, and studying at the 
university of Marpurg, he soon distinguished himself by 
his zeal, assiduity, and great progress, particularly in the 
scriptures, which were his grand object, and to which he 
made everything else subservient. He also became ac- 
quainted with Luther and Melancthon ; and being con 
vinced, from his own researches, of the truth of their doc 
trines, he burned to impart the light of the gospel to his 
own countrymen, and to show them the errors and corrup- 
tions of their church. For this great purpose he returned 
to Scotland. 

After preaching some time, and holding up the truth to 
his deluded countrymen, he was at length invited to St* 



298 fox's book of martyrs. 

Andrews, to confer upon the points in question. But his 
enemies could not stand the light, and finding they could 
not defend themselves by argument, resolved upon revenge 
Hamilton was accordingly imprisoned. Articles were ex- 
hibited against him, in which he was charged with having 
denied free-will; advocated justification by faith alone ; 
and declared that faith, hope, and charity, are so linked 
together, that one cannot exist in the breast without the 
other. 

Upon his refusing to abjure these doctrines, Beaton, 
archbishop of St. Andrews, with the archbishop of Glas- 
gow, three bishops, and five abbots, condemned him as an 
obstinate heretic, delivered him to the secular power, and 
ordered his execution to take place that very afternoon ; 
for the king had gone in pilgrimage to Ross, and they 
were afraid, lest, upon his return, Hamilton's friends might 
have interceded effectually for him. When he was tied to 
the stake, he expressed great joy in his sufferings, since 
by these he was to enter into everlasting life. 

A train of powder being fired, it did not kindle the fuel, 
but only burnt his face, which occasioned a delay till more 
powder was brought ; and in that time the friars continually 
urged him to recant, and pray to the Virgin, saying the 
Salve Regina. Among the rest, a friar named Campbel, 
who had been often with him in prison, was very officious. 
Hamilton answered him, that he knew he was not a here- 
tic, and had confessed to him in private, and charged him 
to answer for that at the throne of Almighty God. Bv 
this time the gunpowder was brought, and the fire bemg 
kindled, he died, repeating these words, " Lord Jesus, re- 
ceive my spirit ! How long, oh ! Lord ! how long shall 
darkness oveiwhehn this kingdom? and how long wilt 
thou surfer the tyranny of these men V 1 He suffered death 
in the year 1527. 

The views and doctrines of this glorious martyr were 
such as could not fail to excite the highest admiration of 
every real believer ; and they were expressed with such 
brevity, such clearness, and such peculiar vigour ana 
beauty, forming in themselves a complete summary of the 
gospel, that they afforded instruction to all who sought to 
know more of God. 

The force of the truths preached by Hamilton, the firm 



299 

ness of his death, and the singular catastrophe of friar 
Campbel, made strong impressions on the people ; and 
many received the new opinions. Seaton, a Dominican, 
the king's confessor, preaching in Lent, set out the nature 
and method of true repentance, without mixing the direc- 
tions which the friars commonly gave on that subject; and 
when another friar attempted to show the defectiveness of 
what he had taught, Seaton defended himself in another 
sermon, and reflected on those bishops who did not preach, 
calling them dumb dogs. But the clergy dared not med- 
dle with him, till they had by secret insinuations ruined his 
credit with the king ; and the freedom he used in re- 
proving him for his vices, quickly alienated James from 
him ; upon which he withdrew into England, and wrote to 
the king, taxing the clergy for their cruelty, and praying 
him to restrain it. 

Martyrdom of Henry Forest. 

A few years after this event, Henry Forest, a young 
friar of Lithgow, was burnt for saying that Hamilton 
was a martyr, and that the doctrines he preached were 
true. 

Norman Gurley and David Strutton were also put to 
death about the same time, for saying there was no such 
place as purgatory, and that the pope was Antichrist. 

The year following, viz. 1539, two others were appre- 
hended on suspicion of heresy, namely : Jerome Russel and 
Alexander Campbell, a youth of about eighteen years oi 
age. Being tried before the archbishop, they were sen- 
tenced to be burnt on the following day, which was exe- 
cuted accordingly. 

Martyrdom of six Persons. 

fn 1543, the archbishop of St. Andrews making a visit- 
ation into various parts of his diocese, several persons 
were accused at Perth of heresy. Among these the six 
following were condemned to die : William Anderson, 
Robert Lamb, James Finlayson, James Hunter, James 
Raveleson, and Helen Stark. 



300 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



The accusations laid against them were to the following 
effect : 

The four first were accused of having hung up the image 
of St. Francis, nailing ram's horns on his head, and fasten- 
mg a cow's tail to his rump ; but the principal matter on 
which they were condemned was having regaled them- 
selves with a goose on Allhallows-eve, a fast day, according 
to the Romish superstition. 

James Raveleson was accused of having ornamented his 
house with the three-crowned diadem of Peter, carved in 
wood, which the archbishop conceived to be done in 
mockery to his cardinal's hat. 

Helen Stark was accused of not having accustomed her- 
self to pray to the Virgin Mary, more especially during 
the time she was in childbed. 

On these accusations they were all found guilty, and 
immediately received sentence of death; the four men for 
eating the goose to be hanged ; James Raveleson to be 
burnt ; and the woman, with her sucking infant, to be put 
into a sack, and drowned. 




The four men, with the woman and child, suffered at 
the same time ; but James Raveleson was not executed 
tili some days after. 



fox's book of martyrs. 301 

On the day appointed for the execution of the former, 
they were all conducted, under a proper guard, to the 
place where they were to suffer, and were attended by a 
prodigious number of spectators. 

As soon as they arrived at the place of execution, they 
all fervently prayed for some time ; after which Robert 
Lamb addressed himself to the spectators, exhorting them 
to fear God, and to quit the practice of papistical abomi- 
nations. 

The four men were all hanged on the same gibbet; and 
the woman, with her sucking child, was conducted to a 
river adjoining, when, being fastened in a large sack, they 
were thrown into it and drowned. 

They aJl suffered their fate with becoming fortitude and 
resignation, committing their departing spirits ti that Re- 
ieeit.er \>ho was to be their final judge, and who, they had 
reason to hope, would usher them into the realms of ever- 
lasting bliss. 

When we reflect on the sufferings of these unhappy 
persons, we are naturally induced, both as men and Chris- 
tians, to lament their fate, and' to express our feelings by 
dropping the tear of commiseration. The putting to death 
four men, for little other reason than that of satisfying na- 
ture with an article sent by Providence for that very pur- 
pose, merely because it was on a day prohibited by ridicu- 
lous bigotry and superstition, is shocking indeed ; but the 
fate of the innocent woman, and her still more harmless 
infant, makes human nature tremble at the contemplation 
of what mankind may become, when incited by bigotry to 
the gratification of the most diabolical cruelty. 

Beside the abovementioned persons, many others were 
cruelly persecuted during the archbishop's stay at Perth. 
some being banished, and others confined in loathsome 
dungeons. In particular, John Rogers, a pious and learned 
man, was, by the archbishop's orders, murdered in prison, 
and his body thrown over the walls into the street ; after 
which the archbishop caused a report to be spread, that 
he had met with his death in an attempt to make his 
pic*-;? 



802 fox's eoo& op maK'Tyh^ 

Life, Sufferings, and Martyrdom of George Wishart. 

Mr. George Wishart was born in Scotland, and afte) 
receiving a grammatical education at a private school, he 
left that place, and finished his studies at the university of 
Cambridge. 

The following character of him, during his residence in 
that university, was written by one of his scholars, and 
contains so just a picture of this excellent man, that we 
give it at length. 

" About the year of our Lord 1543, there was in the 
university of Cambridge jne Mr. George Wishart, com- 
monly called Mr. George, of Bennet's college, who was a 
man of tall stature, bald-headed, and on the same wore a 
round French cap ; judged to be of melancholy com- 
plexion by his physiognomy, black-haired, long-bearded, 
comely of personage, well spoken after his country of 
Scotland, courteous, lowly, lovely, glad to teach, desirous 
to learn, and was well travelled ; having on him for his 
habit or clothing, never but a mantle or frieze gown to the 
shoes, a black millian fustian doublet, and plain black 
liose, coarse new canvass for his shirts, and white falling 
bands and cuffs at his hands. All the which apparel he 
gave to the poor, some weekly, some monthly, some quar- 
terly, as he liked, saving his French cap, which he kept 
the whole year of my being with him. 

" He was a man modest, temperate, fearing God, hating 
covetousness ; for his charity had never end, night, noon, 
nor day ; he forbare one meal in three, one day in four, 
for the most part, except something to comfort nature. 
He lay hard upon a puff of straw, and coarse new canvass 
sheets, which when he changed lie gave away. He had 
commonly by his bed-side a tub of water, in the which 
(his people being in bed, the candle put out and all quiet) 
he used to bathe himself, as I being very young, being as- 
sured, often heard him, and in one light night discerned 
him. He loved me tenderly, and I him, for my age, as 
effectually. He taught with great modesty and gravity, so 
that some of his people thought him severe, and would 
have slain him, but the Lord was his defence. And he, 
after due correction for their malice, by good exhortation 
amended them and went his way. O that the Lord had 



Mi 

eft him to me his poor boy, that he might have finished 
that he had begun ! for in his religion he was as you see 
here in the rest of his life, when he went into Scotland 
with divers of the nobility, that came for a treaty to king 
Henry VIII. His learning was no less sufficient than his 
desire ; always pressed and ready to do good in that he 
was able, both in the house privately, and in the school 
publicly, professing and reading divers authors. 

" If I should declare his love to me, and all men, his 
charity to the poor, in giving, relieving, caring, helping, 
providing, yea, infinitely studying how to do good unto all, 
and hurt to none, I should sooner want words than just 
cause to commend him. 

4 All this I testify with my whole heart, and truth, of 
this godly man. He that made all, governeth all, and 
shall judge all, knoweth that I speak the truth, that the 
simple may be satisfied, the arrogant confounded, the hy- 
pocrite disclosed. — Emery Tylney." 

In order to improve himself as much as possible in the 
knowledge of literature, he travelled into various foreign 
countries, where he distinguished himself for his great 
learning and abilities, both in philosophy and divinity. 
His desire to promote true knowledge and science among 
men, accompanied the profession of it himself. He was 
very ready to communicate what he knew to others, and 
frequently read various authors, both in his own chamber, 
and in the public schools. 

After being some time abroad, he returned to England, 
and took up his residence at Cambridge, where he was 
admitted a member of Bennet college. Having taken his 
degrees, he entered into holy orders, and expounded the 
gospel in so clear and intelligible a manner, as highly to 
delight his numerous auditors. 

Being desirous of propagating the true gospel in his own 
country, he left Cambridge in 1544, and in his way to 
Scotland preached in most of the principal towns, to the 
great satisfaction of his hearers. 

On his arrival in his native land, he first preached at 
Montrose, and afterward at Dundee. In this last place he 
made a public exposition of the epistle to the Romans, 
which he went through with so much grace, eloquence, 



804 

and freedom, as delighted the reformers, and alarmed the 
papists. 

In consequence of this exposition, one Robert Miln, a 
principal man of Dundee, went, by command of cardinal 
Beaton, to the church where Wishart preached, and in the 
midst of his discourse publicly told him " not to trouble 
the town any more, for he was determined not to suf- 
fer it." 

This treatment greatly surprised Wishart, who, after a 
short pause, looking sorrowfully on the speaker and the 
audience, said, " God is my witness, that I never intended 
your trouble, but your comfort ; yea, your trouble is more 
grievous to me than it is to yourselves ; but I am assured, 
to refuse God's word, and to chase from you his messen- 
ger, shall not preserve you from trouble, but shall bring 
you into it ; for God shall send you ministers that shall 
neither fear burning nor banishment. I have offered you 
the word of salvation. With the hazard of my life I have 
remained among you : now ye yourselves refuse me ; and 
I must leave my innocence to be declared by my God. If 
it be long prosperous with you, I am not led by the spirit 
of truth; but if unlooked-for trouble come upon you, ac- 
knowledge tbe cause, and turn to God, who is gracious and 
merciful. But if you turn not at the first warning, he will 
visit you with fire and sword." At the close of this speech 
he left the pulpit, and retired. 

After this he went into the west of Scotland, where he 
preached God's word, which was gladly received by many ; 
till the archbishop of Glasgow, at the instigation of cardi- 
nal Beaton, came, with his train, to the town of Ayr, to 
suppress Wishart, and insisted on having the church to 
preach in himself. Some opposed this ; but Wishart said, 
" Let him alone, his sermon will not do much hurt ; let us 
go to the market-cross." This was agreed to, and Wishart 
preached a sermon that gave universal satisfaction to his 
hearers, and at the same time confounded his enemies. 

He continued to propagate the gospel with the greatest 
alacrity, preaching sometimes in one place, and sometimes 
m another ; but coming to Macklene, he was, by force, 
kept out of the church. Some of his followers would have 
broken in ; upon which he said to one of them, " Brother, 



fox's book of martyrs. 305 

Jesus Christ is as mighty in the fields as in the church ; 
and himself often preached in the desert, at the sea-side, 
and other places. The like word of peace God sends hy 
me : the blood of none shall be shed this day for preach- 
ing it." 

He then went into the fields, where he preached to the 
people for above three hours ; and such an impression did 
his sermon make on the minds of his hearers, that many 
of the most wicked men in the country became converts to 
the truth of the gospel. 

A short time after this, Mr. Wishart received intelligence 
that the plague was broke out in Dundee. It began four 
davs after he was prohibited from preaching there, and 
raged so extremely that incredible numbers died in the 
space of twenty-four hours. This being related to him, 
he, notwithstanding the persuasions of his friends, deter- 
mined to go thither, saying, " They are now in troubles, 
and need comfort. Perhaps this hand of God, will make 
them now to magnify and reverence the word of God 
which before they lightly esteemed." 

Here he was with joy received by the godly. He chose 
the East-gate for the place of his preaching ; so that the 
healthy were within, and the sick without the gate. He 
took his text from these words, " He sent his word and 
healed them," &c. In this sermon he chiefly dwelt upon 
the advantage and comfort of God's word, the judgments 
that ensue upon the contempt or rejection of it, the free- 
dom of God's grace to all his people, and the happiness of 
those of his elect, whom he takes to himself out of this 
miserable world. The hearts of his hearers were so raised 
by the divine force of this discourse, as not to regard death 
but to judge them the more happy who should then be 
called, not knowing whether they might have such a com- 
forter again among them. 

After this the plague abated : though in the midst of it, 
Wishart constantly visited those that lay in the greatest 
extremity, and comforted them by his exhortations. 

When he took his leave of the people of Dundee, he 
said, " That God had almost put an end to that plague, 
and that he was now called to another place." 

He went from thence to Montrose, where he sometimes 
•26* 



806 fox's book op martyrs. 

preached, but spent most of his time in private meditation 
arid prayer. 

It is said, that before he left Dundee, and while he was 
engaged in the labours of love to the bodies, as well as to 
the souls, of those poor afflicted people, cardinal Beaton 
engaged a desperate popish priest, called John Weighton, 
to kill him ; the attempt to execute which was as follows : 
<me clay, after Wishart had finished his sermon, and the 
people departed, the priest stood waiting at the bottom of 
the stairs, with a naked dagger in his hand under his gown. 
But Mr. Wishart having a sharp, piercing eye, and seeing 
the priest as he came from the pulpit, said to him, " My 
friend what would you havel" And immediately clapping 
his hand upon the dagger, took it from him. The priest 
being terrified, fell on his knees, confessed his intention, 
and craved pardon. A noise being hereupon raised, and 
it coming to the ears of those who were sick, they cried, 
" Deliver the traitor to us, we will take him by force ;" 
and they burst in at the gate. But Wishart, taking the 
priest in his arms, said, " Whatsoever hurts him, shall 
hurt me ; for he hath done me no mischief, but much good 
by teaching me more needfulness for the time to come." 
By this conduct he appeased the people, and saved the life 
of the wicked priest. 

Soon after his return to Montrose, the cardinal again 
conspired his death, causing a letter to be sent to him as if 
it had been from his familiar friend the laird of Kinnier, in 
which he was desired with all possible speed, to come to 
him, because he was taken with a sudden sickness. In 
the mean time the cardinal had provided sixty armed men 
to lie in wait within a mile and a half of Montrose, in or- 
der to murder him as he passed that way. 

The letter coming to Wishart's hand by a boy, who also 
brought him a horse for the journey, Wishart, accompanied 
by some of his friends set forward; but something particu- 
lar striking his mind by the way, he returned back, which 
thev wondering at, asked him the cause ; to whom he said, 
" I will not go ; I am forbidden of God ; I am assured 
there is treason. Let some of you go to } r onder place, and 
tell me what you find." They accordingly went, disco- 
vered the assassins, and hastily returning, they told Mr 



fox's book of martyrs. 307 

Wishart : whereupon he said, " I know I shall end my 
life by that bloodthirsty man's hands, but it will not be in 
this manner." 

A short time after this he left Montrose, and proceeded 
to Edinburgh, in order to propagate the gospel in that city. 
By the way he lodged with a faithful brother, called James 
Watson, of Inner-Goury. In the middle of the night he 
cot up, and went into the yard, which two men hearing 
ihey privately followed him. 

While in the yard he fell on his knees, and prayed for 
sometime with the greatest fervency ; after which he arose 
and returned to his bed. Those who attended him, ap- 
pearing as though they were ignorant of all, came and 
asked him where he had been 1 But he would not answer 
them. The next day they importuned him to tell them 
saying, " Be plain with us, for we heard your mourning, 
and saw your gestures." 

On this he, with a dejected countenance, said, " I had 
rather you had been in your beds." But they still pressing 
upon him to know something, he said, " I will tell you ; I 
am assured that my warfare is near at an end, and there- 
fore pray to God with me, that I shrink not when the bat- 
tle waxeth most hot.' 

When they heard this they wept, saying, " This is small 
comfort to us." — " Then," said he, " God shall send you 
comfort after me. This realm shall be illuminated with the 
light of Christ's gospel, as clearly as any realm since the 
days of the apostles. The house of God shall be built in 
it ; yea, it shall not lack, in despite of all enemies, the top- 
stone ; neither will it be long before this be accomplished. 
Many shall not suffer after me., before the glory of God 
shall appear, and triumph in despite of Satan. But, alas, 
if the people afterward shall prove unthankful, then fear- 
ful and terrible will be the plagues that shall follow." 

The next day he proceeded on his journey, and when he 
arrived at Leith, not meeting with those he expected, he 
kept himself retired for a day or two. He then grew pen- 
sive, and being asked the reason he answered, " What do 
[ differ from a dead man 1 Hitherto God hath used my 
labours for the instruction of others, and to the disclosing 
of darkness ; and now I lurk as a man ashamed to show 
nis face." His friends perceived that his desire was to 



308 fox's book of martyrs. 

preach, wnereupon they said to him, " It is most comfort 
able for us to hear you, but because we know the dangei 
wherein you stand, we dare not desire it." He replied. 
14 If you dare hoar, let God provide for me as best pleaseth 
him ;" after which it was concluded, that the next day be 
should preach in Leith. His text was from the parable ot 
the sower, Matt. xiii. The sermon ended, the gentlemen 
of Lothian, who were earnest professors of Jesus Christ, 
would not suffer him to stay at Leith, because the governor 
and cardinal were shortly to come to Edinburgh ; but took 
him along with them ; and he preached at Branston, Long- 
niddry, and Ormistone. He also preached at Iveresk, 
near Muselburg : he had a great concourse of people, and 
among them Sir George Douglas, who after sermon said 
publicly, " I know that the governor and cardinal will 
hear that I have been at this sermon ; hut let them know 
that I will avow it, and will maintain both the doctrine 
and the preacher to the uttermost of my power." 

Among others that came to hear him preach, there were 
two gray friars, who, standing at the church door, whispered 
to such as came in ; which Wishart observing, said to the 
people, " I pray yon make room for these two men, it 
may be they come to learn; and turning to them, he said, 
" Come near, for I assure you you shall hear the word ot 
truth, which this day shall seal up to you either your sal- 
vation or damnation :" after which he proceeded in bis 
sermon, supposing that they would be quiet ; but when he 
perceived that they still continued to disturb the people 
that stood near them, he said to them the second time, 
with an angry countenance, " O ministers of Satan, and 
deceivers of the souls of men, will ye neither hear God's 
truth yourselves, nor suffer others to hear it? Depart, and 
take this for your portion ; God shall shortly confound and 
disclose your hypocrisy within this kingdom ; ye shall be 
abominable to men, and your places and habitations shall 
be desolate." He spoke this with much vehemency ; ther 
turning to the people, said, " These men have provoked 
the Spirit of God to anger ;" after which he proceeded in 
his sermon, highly to the satisfaction of his hearers. 

From hence he went and preached at Branstone, Lan- 
sruedine, Ormistone, and Inveresk, where he was followed 
by a great concours: of people. He preached also in 



fox's book of martyrs. 309 

many other places, the people flocking after him ; and in 
all his sermons he foretold the shortness of the time he had 
to travel, and the near approach of his death. When he 
came to Haddington, his auditory began much to decrease, 
which was thought to happen through the influence of the 
earl of Bothwell, who was moved to oppose him at the in- 
stigation of the cardinal. Soon after this, as he was going 
to church, he received a letter from the west country gen- 
tlemen, which having read, he called John Knox, who had 
diligently waited upon him since his arrival at Lothian ; 
to whom he said, " He was weary of the world, because 
he saw that men began to be weary of God: for," said he, 
" the gentlemen of the west have sent me word, that they 
cannot keep their meeting at Edinburgh." 

Knox, wondering he should enter into conference about 
these things, immediately before his sermon, contrary to 
his usual custom, said to him, " Sir, sermon time ap- 
proaches ; I will leave you for the present to your medita- 
tions " 

Wishart's sad countenance declared the grief of his 
mind. At length he went into the pulpit, and his auditory 
being very small, he introduced his sermon with the fol- 
lowing exclamation : " O Lord ! how long shall it be that 
thy holy word shall be despised, and men shall not regard 
their own salvation 1 I have heard of thee, O Haddington, 
that in thee there used to be two or three thousand persons 
at a vain and wicked play ; and now, to hear the messen- 
ger of the eternal God, of all the parish can scarce be 
numbered one hundred present. Sore and fearful shall be 
the plagues that shall ensue upon this thy contempt. With 
fire and sword shah thou be plagued ; yea, thou Hadding- 
ton in special, strangers shall possess thee : and ye, the 
present inhabitants, shall either in bondage serve your ene- 
mies, or else ye shall be chased from your own habitations ; 
and that because ye have not known, nor will know, the 
time of your visitation." 

This prediction was, in a great measure accomplished 
not long after, when the English took Haddington, made it 
a garrison, and forced many of the inhabitants to flee. 
Soon after this, a dreadful plague broke out in the town, 
of which such numbers died, that the place became almost 
depopul-ated 



810 POX's BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

Cardinal Beaton, being informed that Wishan was at the 
house of Mr. Coekburn, of Ormistou, in East Lothian, 
applied to the regent to cause him to be apprehended ; 
with which, after great persuasion, and much against his 
will, he complied. 

The earl accordingly went, with proper attendants, to 
♦he house of Mr. Coekburn, which he beset about midnight 
The master of the house being greatly alarmed, put him- 
self in a posture of defence, when the earl told him that 
j: was in vain to resist, for the governor and cardinal were 
within a mile, with a power ; but if he would deliver 
Wishart to him, he would promise upon his honour that 
he should be safe, and that the cardinal should not hurt him. 
Wishart said, " Open the gates, the will of God be done ;" 
ind Bothwell coming in, Wishart said to him, " I praise 
my God, that so honourable a man as you, my lord, receive 
me this night ; for I am persuaded that for your honour's 
>ake you will suffer nothing to be done to me but by order 
of law : I less fear to die openly, than secretly to be 
murdered." Bothwell replied, " I will not only preserve 
v^our body from all violence that shall be intended against 
you without order of law ; but 1 also promise in the pre- 
sence of these gentlemen, that neither the governor nor 
cardinal shall have their will of you ; but I will keep you 
in my own house, till I either set you free, or restore you 
to the same place where I receive you." Then said Mr. 
Coekburn, " My lord, if you make good your promise, 
which we presume you will, we ourselves will not only 
serve you, but we will procure all the professors in Lothian 
to do the same." 

This agreement being made, Mr. Wishart was delivered 
into the hands of the earl, who immediately conducted him 
to Edinburgh. 

As soon as the earl arrived at that place, he was sent foi 
by the queen, who being an inveterate enemy to Wishart 
prevailed on the earl, notwithstanding the promises he had 
made, to commit him a prisoner to the castle. 

The cardinal being informed of Wishart's situation, went 
to Edinburgh, and immediately caused him to be removed 
from thence to the castle of St. Andrews. 

The inveterate and persecuting prelate, having now got 
01 r martyr fully at his own disposal, resolved to proceed 



311 

immediately to try him as a heretic : for which purpose 
he assembled the prelates at St. Andrews' church on the 
27th of February, 1546. 

At this meeting the archbishop of Glasgow gave it as his 
opinion, that application should be made to the regent, to 
grant a commission to some nobleman to try the prisoner, 
that all the odium of putting so popular a man to death 
might not lie on the clergy. 

To this the cardinal readily agreed : but upon sending 
to the regent, he received the following answer : ■" That 
he would do well not to precipitate this man's trial, but delay 
it until his coming ; for as to himself, he would not consent 
to his death before the cause was very well examined ; 
and if the cardinal should do otherwise, he would make 
protestation, that the blood cf this man should be required 
at his hands." 

The cardinal was extremely chargined at this message 
from the regent ; however he determined to proceed in the 
bloody business he had undertaken: and therefore sent the 
regent word, " That he had not written to him about this 
matter, as supposing himself to be in any way dependant 
upon his authority, but from the desire that the prosecution 
and conviction of heretics might have a show of public 
consent ; which, since he could not this way obtain, he 
would proceed in that way which to him appeared the 
most proper." 

In consequence of this, the cardinal immediately pro- 
ceeded to the trial of Wishart, against whom no less than 
eighteen articles were exhibited, which were in substance 
as follows : 

That he had despised the " holy mother-church ;" 
had deceived the people ; had ridiculed the mass ; had 
preached against the sacraments, saying that there were 
not seven, but two only, viz. : baptism and the supper of 
the Lord; had preached against confession to a priest; 
had'denied transubstantiation and the necessity of extreme 
unction ; would not admit the authority of the pope or the 
councils; allowed the eating of flesh on Friday; con- 
demned prayers to saints ; spoke against the vows of monks 
&c. saying that " whoever was bound to such vows, had 
vowed themselves to the state of damnation, and that it 
was lawful for priests to marry:" that he had said, "it 



312 fox's book of martyrs 

was in vain to build costly churches to the nonour of God, 
seeing that he remained not in churches made with men's 
nands ; nor yet could God be in so small a space as be- 
tween the priest's hands ;" — and, finally, that he had avow- 
ed his disbelief of purgatory, and had said, " the soul of 
man should sleep till the last day, and should not obtain 
immortal life till that time." 

Mr. Wishart answered these respective articles with great 
composure of mind, and in so learned and clear a manner, 
as greatly surprised most of those who were present. 

A bigotted priest named Lauder, at the instigation of 
the archbishop, not only heaped a load of curses on him, 
but treated him with the most barbarous contempt, calling 
him " runagate, false heretic, traitor, and thief;" and, not 
satisfied with that, spit in his face, and otherwise maltreated 
him. 

On this Mr. Wishart fell on his knees, and after making 
a prayer to God, thus addressed his judges : 

" Many and horrible sayings unto me a Christian man, 
many words abominable to hear, have ye spoken here this 
day ; which not only to teach, but even to think, I ever 
thought a great abomination." 

After the examination was finished, the archbishop en- 
deavoured to prevail on Mr. Wishart to recant ; but he 
was too firmly fixed in his religious principles, and too 
much enlightened with the truth of the gospel, to be in the 
least moved. 

In consequence of this the archbishop pronounced on 
him the dreadful sentence of death, which lie ordered 
should be put into execution on the following day. 

As soon as this cruel and melancholy ceremony was 
finished, our martyr fell on his knees and thus exclaimed : 

" O immortal God, how long wilt thou suffer the rage 
and great cruelty of "the ungodly to exercise their fury 
upon thy servants, which do further thy word in this world 1 
YVhereas they, on the contrary, seek to destroy the truth, 
whereby thou hast revealed thyself to the world. O Lord 
we know certainly that thy true servants must needs suffer, 
for thy name's sake, persecutions, afflictions, and troubles 
*n this present world ; yet we desire that thou wouldst 
preserve and defend thy church, which thou hast chosen 
before the foundation of the world, and give thy people 



POX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 313 

grace to hear thy word, and to be thy true servants in this 
present life." 

Having said this, he arose, and was immediately con- 
ducted by die officers to the prison from whence he had 
been brought in the castle. 

In the evening he was visited by two friars, who told him 
he must make his confession to them; to whom he replied, 
14 1 will not make any confession to you ;" on which they 
immediately departed. 

Soon after this came the sub-prior, with whom Wishart 
conversed in so feeling a manner on religious matters, as 
to make him weep. When this man left Wishart, he went 
to the cardinal, and told him he came not to intercede for 
the prisoner's life, but to make known his innocence to all 
men. At these words, th cardinal expressed great dis- 
satisfaction, and forbid the sub-prior from again visiting 
Wishart. 

Towards the close of the evening, our martyr was visited 
by the captain of the castle, with several of his friends ; 
who bringing with them some bread and wine, asked him 
if he would eat and drink with 1 them. " Yes," said Wis- 
hart, " very willingly, for I know you are honest men." 
In the mean time he desired them to hear him a little when 
he discoursed with them on the Lord's Supper, his suffer- 
ings and death for us, exhorting them to love one another, 
and to lay aside, all rancour and malice, as became the 
members of Jesus Christ, who continually interceded for 
them with his father. After this he gave thanks to God, 
and blessing the bread and wine, he took the bread and 
brake it, giving some to each, saying, at the same time, 
" Eat this, remember that Christ died for us, and feed on 
it spiritually. Then taking the cup he drank, and bade 
them remember that Christ's blood was shed for them." 
After this he gave thanks, prayed for some time, took leave 
of his visiters, and retired to his chamber 

On the morning of his execution there came to him two 
friars from the cardinal ; one of whom put on him a black 
linen coat, and the other brought several nags of gunpowder, 
"vhich they tied about different parts of his body. 

In this dress he was conducted from the room in which 
he had been confined, to the outer chamber of the gover- 
27 



3x4 

nor's apartments, there to stay till the necessary prepara- 
tions were made for his execution. 

The windows and balconies of the castle, opposite 
the place where he was to suffer, were all hung with tapes- 
try and silk hangings, with cushions for the cardinal and 
his train, who were from thence to feast their eyes with the 
torments of this innocent man. There was also a large 
guard of soldiers, not so much to secure the execution, as 
to show a vain ostentation of power ; besides which, can- 
non were placed on different parts of the castle. 

All the preparations being completed, Wishart, aftei 
having his hands tied behind him, was conducted to the 
fatal spot. In his way thither he was accosted by two 
friars, who desired him to pray to the Virgin Mary to in- 
tercede for him. To whom he meekly said, " Cease ; 
tempt me not, I entreat you." 

As soon as he arrived at the stake, the executioner put 
a rope round his neck, and a chain about his middle ; upon 
which he fell on his knees, and thus exclaimed : 

" O thou Saviour of the world, have mercy upon me ! 
Father of heaven, I commend my spirit into thy holy 
hands." 

After repeating these words three times he arose, and 
turning himself to the spectators, addressed them as fol 
lows : 

" Christian brethren and sisters, I beseech you be not 
offended at the word of God for the torments which you 
see prepared for me ; but I exhort you, that ye love the 
word of God for your salvation, and suffer patiently, and 
with a comfortable heart, for the word's sake which is your 
undoubted salvation, and everlasting comfort. I pray you 
also, show my brethren and sisters, who have often heard 
me, that they cease not to learn the word of God, which 1 
taught them according to the measure of grace given me, 
but to hold fast to it with the strictest attention ; and show 
hem that the doctrine was no old wives' fables, but the 
truth of God ; for if I had taught men's doctrine, I should 
have had greater thanks from men: but for the word of 
God's sake I now suffer, not sorrowfully, but with a glad 
heart ana mind. For this cause I was sent, that I should 
suffer this fire for Christ's sake ; behold my face, you shal. 



fox's book of martyrs. 815 

not see me change my countenance ; I fear not the fire ; 
and if persecution come to you for the word's sake, I pray 
you fear not them that can kill the body, and have no 
power to hurt the soul." 

After this he prayed for his accusers, saying, " I beseecn 
thee, Father of heaven, forgive them that have, from igno- 
rance or an evil mind, forged lies of me: I forgive them 
with all my heart. I beseech Christ to forgive them, that 
have ignorantly condemned me." 

Then, again turning himself to the spectators, he said, 
U I beseech you, brethren, exhort your prelates to learn 
the word of God, that they may be ashamed to do evil, 
and learn to do good ; or there will come upon them the 
wrath of God, which they shall not eschew." 

As soon as he had finished this speech, the execu oner 
fell on his knees before him, and said, " Sir, I pra; you 
forgive me, for I am not the cause of your death." 

In return to this Wishart cordially took the man by the 
hand, and kissed him, saying, " Lo, here is a token that I 
forgive thee ; my heart, do thine office. " 

He was then fastened to the stake, and the fagots being 
lighted, immediately set fire to the powder that was tied 
about him, and which blew into a flame and smoke. 

The governor of the castle, who stood so near that he 
was singed with the flame, exhorted our martyr in a few 
words, to be of good cheer, and to ask pardon of God for 
his offences. To which he replied, "This flame occasions 
trouble to my body, indeed, but it hath in no wise broken 
my spirit. But he who so proudly looks down from yon- 
der lofty place," pointing to the cardinal, " shall, ere long, 
be as ignominously thrown down, as now he proudly lolls at 
his ease." 

When he had said this, the executioner pulled the rope 
which was tied about his neck with great violence, so that he 
was soon strangled; and the fire getting strength, burn 
with such rapidity that in less than an hour his body was 
totally consumed. 

Thus died, in confirmation of the gospel of Christ, a sin- 
cere believer, whose fortitude and constancy, during his 
sufferings, can only be imputed to the support of divine 
aid, in order to fulfil that memorable promise, " As is th 
day, so shall thy strength be also." 



316 pox's book op martyrs. 

Cardinal Beaton put to death. 

The prediction of Mr. Wishart concerning cardinal 
Beaton is related by Buchanan and others, but it has been 
doubted, by some later writers, whether he realty made 
such prediction or not. Be that as it may, however, it is 
certain that the death of Wishart did, in a short time after, 
prove fatal to the cardinal himself; the particulars of 
which we subjoin. 

Soon after the death of Mr. Wishart, the cardinal went 
to Finhaven, the seat of the earl of Crawford, to solemnize 
a marriage between the eldest son of that nobleman, and 
his own natural daughter, Margaret. While he was thus 
employed, he received intelligence that an English squad- 
ron i .s upon the coast, and that consequently an invasion 
was ) be feared. Upon this he immediately returned to 
St. Andrews, and appointed a day for the nobility and 
gentry to meet, and consult what was proper to be done 
on this occasion. But as no further news was heard of the 
English ileet, their apprehensions of an invasion soon sub- 
sided. 

In the mean time Norman Lesley, eldest son of the earl 
of Rothes, who had been treated by the cardinal with in- 
justice and contempt, formed a design, in conjunction with 
his uncle John Lesley, who hated Beaton, and others who 
were inflamed against him on account of his persecution 
of the protestants, the death of Wishart, and other causes, 
'to assassinate the prelate, though he now resided in the 
castle of St. Andrews, which he was fortifying at great 
expense, and had, in the opinion of that age, already ren- 
dered it almost impregnable. 

The cardinal's retinue was numerous, the town was at 
his devotion, and the neighbouring country full of his de- 
pendants. However, the conspirators, who were only six- 
teen, having concerted their plan, met together early in the 
morning, on Saturday the 29th of May. The first thing they 
did, was to seize the porter of the castle, from whom they 
took the keys, and secured the gate. They then sent four 
of their party to watch the cardinal's chamber, that he might 
have no notice given him of what was doing; after which 
they went and called up the servants and attendants, to 
whom tliev were well known, and turned them out the gate 



fox's book of martyrs. 81V 

to the number of fifty, as the)' did also upwards of a hun- 
dred work men, who were employed in the fortifications 
and buildings of the castle ; but the eldest son of the re- 
gent, whom the cardinal kept with him, under pretence of 
superintending his education, but in reality as a hostage, 
they kept for their own security. 

All this was done with so little noise, that the cardinal 
was not waked till they knocked at his chamber door ; 
upon which he cried out, " Who is there 1" John Lesley 
answered, " My name is Lesley." "Which Lesley 1" in- 
quired the cardinal; "is it Norman 1 ?" It was answered 
that he must open the door to those who were there ; but 
instead of this, he barricaded it in the best manner he 
could. However, finding that they had brought fire in 
order to force their way, and they having, as it is said by 
some, made him a promise of his life, he opened the door 
They immediately entered with their swords drawn, and 
Tohn Lesley smote him twice or thrice, as did also Peter 
Carmichael ; but James Melvil f as Mr. Knox relates the 
affair, perceiving them to be in choler, said, " This work, 
and judgment of God, although it be secret, ought to be 
done with greater gravity :" and presenting the point of 
the sword to the cardinal, said to him, " Repent thee of 
thy wicked life, but especially of the shedding the blood 
of that notable instrument of God, Mr. George Wishart, 
which albeit the flame of fire consumed before men, yet 
^ries it for vengeance upon thee ; and we from God are 
sent to revenge it. For here before my God, I protest, 
that neither the hatred of thy person, the love of thy riches 
nor the fear of any trouble thou couldst have done to me 
in particular, moved or moveth me to strike thee ; but only 
because thou hast been and remainest an obstinate enemy 
of Christ Jesus and his holy gospel." Having said this, 
he with his sword run him twice or thrice through the body; 
who only said, "I am a priest! Fie! fie! all is gone!" 
.and then expired, being about fifty-two years of age. 

Thus fell cardinal Beaton, who had been as great a per- 
secutor against the protestants in Scotland, as Bonner was 
in England ; and whose death was as little regretted b} all 
true professors of Christ's gospel. 

The next and last person put to death in Scotland for the 
sake of Christ, was Walter Mille who was burnt in 1558. 
27* 



&1© pox's book of martyrs. 



CHAPTER II. 



Progress of the Reformation in the Reign of Ed* 
ward VI. 

Edward was the only son of king Henry, by his beloved 
wife Jane Seymour, who died the day after his birth, which 
took place on the twelfth of October, 1537, so that, when 
he came to the throne, in 1547, he was but ten years old. 

At six years of age he was put into the hands of Dr. 
Cox and Mr. Cheke ; the one was to form his mind, and 
teach him philosophy and divinity, the other, to teach 
him languages and mathematics : other masters were also 
appointed for the various parts of his education. He dis- 
covered very early a good disposition to religion and virtue, 
and a particular reverence for the scriptures ; and was 
once greatly offended with a person, who, in order to 
reach something hastily, laid a great Bible on the floor, 
and stood upon it. He made great progress in learning, 
and at the age of eight years, wrote Latin letters fre- 
quently to the king, to queen Catharine Parre, to the 
archbishop of Canterbury, and his uncle, the earl of Hertford. 

Upon his father's decease, the earl of Hertford and sir 
Anthony Brown were sent to bring him to the Tower of 
London : and when Henry's death was published, he was 
proclaimed king. 

A»t his coming to the Tower, his father's will was 
opened, by which it was found that he had named sixteen 
noblemen and gentlemen to be the governors of the king 
dom, and of his -son's person till he should be eighteen 
years of age. These were the archbishop of Canterbury ; 
lords Wriothesly, St. John, Russel, Hertford, and Lisle ; 
Tonstall, bishop of Durham ; sir Anthony Brown, sir 
William Paget, sir Edward North, sir Edward Montague, 
lord chief justice of the common pleas ; judge Bromley, 
sir Anthony Denny, sir William Herbert, sir Edward 
Wotton, and Dr. Wotton, dean of Canterbury and York. 
They were also to give the king's sisters in marriage ; 
who, if they married without their consent, were to forfeit 
their right of succession. A privy council was also named 
to be theii assistant in the government. 



POX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS 



319 



As might have heen expected, dissensions soon arose 
among so numerous a party ; and, on its being proposed 
that one should be chosen out of the sixteen to whom am- 
bassadors should address themselves, and who should have 
the chief direction of affairs; lord Wriothesly, the chan- 
cellor, who t bought the precedence fell to him by his office, 
since the archbishop did not meddle much in secula 
affairs opposed this much, and said, " It was a change of 
tne king's will ; who had made them all equal in power 
and dignity ; and if any were raised above the rest in title, 
it would not be possible to keep him within due bounds, 
siuce great titles make way for high power." Notwith- 
standing this, the earl of Hertford was declared governor 
of the king's person, and protector of the kingdom ; with 
this restriction, that he should do nothing but by the advice 
and consent of the rest. Upon this advancement, and the 
opposition made to it, two parties were formed, the one 
headed by the protector, and the other by the chancellor : 
the favourers of the reformation were of the former, and 
those that opposed it of the latter. 

The chancellor was ordered to renew the commissions 
of the judges and justices of peace, and king Henry's 
great seal was to be made use of, till a new one should be 
made. The day after this, all the executors took oaths to 
execute their trust faithfully, the privy counsellors were 
also brought into the king's presence, who all expressed 
their satisfaction in the choice of the protector : and it 
was ordered that all despatches to foreign princes should 
be signed only by him. All that held offices were required 
to come and renew their commissions, and to swear alle- 
giance to the king : among the rest, came the bishops, and 
took out such commissions as were granted in the former 
reign, by which they were to hold their bishoprics only 
during the king's pleasure. Cranmer set an example tc 
the rest in taking out one of these. This check upon the 
bishops was judged expedient in case they should oppose 
the reformation ; but the ill consequences of such an un- 
limited power being foreseen, the bishops, who were after- 
ward promoted, were not so fettered, but were to hold 
heir bishoprics during life. 
An accident soon occurred, which made way for great 



320 FOX S BOOK t)F MARTYRS. 

changes in the church. The curate and church-ward* 6 
of St. Martin's in London, were brought before the couwi 
for removing the crucifix, and other images, and putting 
some texts of scripture on the walls of their church, in the 
places where Liey stood ; they answered, that in repairing 
their church, they had removed the images, which being 
rotten they did not renew them, but put the words of scrip- 
ture in their room : they had also removed others, which 
they found had been abused to idolatry. Great pains were 
taken by the popish party to punish them severely, in 
order to strike a terror into others ; but Cranmer was for 
the removing of all images set up in churches, as being 
expressly contrary both to the second commandment, and 
the practice of the purest Christians for many ages : and 
though, in compliance with the gross abuses of paganism, 
much of the pomp of their worship was very early brought 
into the Christian church, yet it was long before images 
were introduced. At first all images were condemned by 
the fathers ; then they allowed the use, but condemned 
the worshipping of them ; and afterward, in the eighth and 
ninth centuries, the worshipping of them was, after a long 
contest, both in the east and west, at last generally re- 
ceived. Some, in particular, were believed to be more 
wonderfully endowed, and this was much improved by the 
cheats of the monks, who had enriched themselves by such 
means. And this abuse had now grown to such a height, 
that heathenism itself had not been guilty of greater absur- 
dities toward its idols. Since all these abuses had risen 
out of the use of them, and the setting them up being con- 
trary to the command of God, and the nature of the Chris- 
tian religion, which is simple and spiritual ; it seemed 
most reasonable to cure the disease in its root, and to clear 
the churches of images, that the people might be preserved 
from idolatry. 

These reasons prevailed so far, that the curate and 
church-wardens were dismissed w r ith a reprimand ; they 
were ordered to beware of such rashness for the future, 
and to provide a crucifix, and, till that could be had, were 
ordered to cause one to be painted on the wall. Upon 
this, Dr. Ridley, in a sermon preached before the king, 
inveighed against the superstition toward image? ind b*»ly 



pox's book of martyrs. 32 F 

water, and spread over the whole nation a general dispo- 
sition to pull them down ; which soon after commenced in 
Portsmouth. 

Upon this Gardiner made great complaints ; he said 
the Lutherans themselves went not so far, for he had seen 
images in their churches. He distinguished between imag 
and idol as if the one, which he said only was condemned 
were the representation of a false God, and the other of the 
true ; and he thought, that as words conveyed by the ear 
begat devotion, so images, by the conveyance of the eye, 
might have the same effect on the mind. He also thought 
a virtue might be both in them and in holy water, as well 
as there was in Christ's garments, Peter'j shadow, or 
Elisha's staff: and there might be a virtue in holy water, 
as well as in water of baptism. 

To these arguments, which Gardiner wrote in several 
letters, the protector answered, that the bishops had for- 
merly argued much in another strain, namely, that because 
the scriptures were abused by the vulgar readers, therefore 
they were not to be trusted to them ; and so made a pre- 
tended abuse the ground of taking away that which, by 
God's special appointment, was to be delivered to all 
Christians. This held much stronger against images, for- 
bidden by God. The brazen serpent set up by Moses, 
by God's own direction, was broken when abused to idola- 
try ; for that was the greatest corruption of religion possi- 
ble : but yet the protector acknowledged there was reason 
to complain of the forwardness of the people, who broke 
down images without authority : to prevent which, in fu- 
ture, orders were sent to the justices of peace to look well 
to the peace and government of the nation. 

The funeral of the deceased king was performed, with 
the usual ceremonies, at Windsor. He had left six hun- 
dred pounds a year to the church of Windsor, for priests to 
say mass for his soul every day, and for four obits* a 
year, and sermons, and distribution of alms at every one 
of them, and for a sermon every Sunday, and a mainte- 
nance for thirteen poor knights, which was settled upon 
^\at church by his executors in due form of law. 

The pomp of this endowment led people to examine* 

• Obit was the anniversary of a person's death 



fcfet POX'S BOOK OP MARTYR! 

into the usefulness of soul-masses and obits. Christ ap* 
pointed the sacrament for a commemoration of his death 
among the living, but it was not easy to conceive how that 
was to be applied to departed souls; and it was evidently 
a project for drawing the wealth of the world into thei 
hands. In the primitive church there was a commemora 
tion of the dead, or an honourable remembrance of then? 
made in the daily offices. But even this custom gre^ 
into abuse, and some inferred from it, that departed souls, 
unless they were signally pure, passed through a purgation 
in the next life, before they were admitted to heaven ; of 
which St. Austin, in whose time the opinion began to be 
received, says, that it was taken up without any sure.ground 
in scripture. But what was wanting in scripture-proof 
was supplied by visions, dreams, and tales, till it was 
generally received. King Henry had acted like one who 
did not much believe it, for he had deprived innumerable 
souls of the masses that were said for them in monasteries, 
by destroying those foundations. Yet he seems to have 
intended that if masses could avail the departed souls, he 
would himself be secure ; and as he gratified the priests by 
this part of his endowment, so he pleased the people by 
appointing sermons and alms to be given on such days. 
Thus he died as he had lived, wavering between both 
persuasions. 

But now the ceremony of the coronation took off the 
attention of the multitude from more serious thoughts. 
The protector was made duke of Somerset ; the earl of 
Essex, marquis of Northampton ; the lords Leslie and 
Wriothesly, earls of Warwick and Southampton; Seymour, 
Rich, Willoughby, and Sheffield, were made barons. In 
order to the king's coronation, the office for that ceremony 
was reviewed, and much shortened ; one remarkable al- 
teration was, that formerly the king used to be presented 
to the people at the corners of the scaffold, and they were 
asked if they would have him to be their king ? Which 
looked like an election, rather than a ceremony of invest- 
ing one that was already king. This was now changed, 
and the people were desired only to give their assent and 
good will to his coronation, as by the duty of allegiance 
they were bound to do. On the twentieth af February, 
1547, he was crowned, and a general pardon \yas pro- 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 

Claimed, out of which the duke of Norfolk, cardinal Pole, 
and some others, were excepted. 

The chancellor, who was looked on as the head of tht 
popish party, now lost his place, hy granting a commission 
to the master of the rolls and three masters of chancery, 
of whom two were civilians, to execute his office in the 
court of chancery as if he were present, only their decrees 
were to be brought to him to be signed before they should 
be enrolled. 

The first business of consequence that required great 
consideration was the Smalcaldic war, then begun between 
the emperor and the princes of the protestant league : the 
effects of which, if the emperor prevailed, were like to be. 
not only the extirpating of Lutheranism, but his becoming 
the absolute master of Germany : which he chiefly wished 
as the first step to a universal monarchy, but disguised it 
to other princes : to the pope he pretended that his design 
was only to extirpate heresy ; to other sovereigns he pre- 
tended it was to repress a rebellion, and denied all designs 
of suppressing the new doctrines ; which he managed so 
artfully, that he divided Germany against itself, and got 
some Lutheran princes to declare for him, and others to 
be neutral: and having obtained a very liberal supply for 
his wars with France and the Turks, for which he granted 
an edict for liberty of conscience, he made peace with 
both these princes, and resolved to employ that treasure 
which the Germans had given him, against themselves. 
That he might deprive them of their allies, he used means 
to engage king Henr}^ and Francis the First in a war ; but 
that was, chiefly by their interposition, composed. And 
now, when the war was likely to be carried on with great 
vigour, both those princes died ; Henry in January, and 
Francis in March following. Many of their confederates 
began to capitulate and forsake them ; and the divisions 
among their own commanders very much hindered theii 
success. 

The pope wisned to engage the emperor in a war in 
Germany, that so Italy might be at peace : and in order to 
accomplish this object, he published the treaty which had 
been made between them, that so it might appear that the 
design of the war was to extirpate heresy, though the em- 
peror was making great protestations to the contrar in 



324 FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS* 

Germany. He also opened the council of Trent, w 
Charles had long desired in vain ; but it was now brought 
iiDon him when he least wished for it ; for the protestants 
all declared, that they could not look upon it as a free 
general council, since it was so entirely at the pope's devo- 
tion, that not so much as a reformation of the grossest 
abuses was likely to be obtained. Nor could the emperor 
prevail with the council not to condemn the " new doc- 
trines" as heresy ; but the more he attempted to obstruct 
its proceedings, the more did the pope urge it on, to open 
the eyes of the Germans, and engage them all vigorously 
against the emperor ; who, on his part, gave them such 
secret assurances of tolerating the Augsburgh confession, 
that the marquis of Brandenburgh declared for him, and 
his example was followed by several other princes. This 
was the state of affairs in Germany ; which rendered it 
very difficult to determine what answer the protector should 
give the duke of Saxony's chancellor, whom he had sent 
over to obtain money for carrying on the war. It was, on 
the one hand, of great importance to the safety of Eng- 
land to preserve the German princes, and yet it was very 
dangerous to begin a war of such consequence under an 
infant king. At present the government only promised, 
within three months, to send 50,000 crowns to Hamburgh, 
and would do no more till new emergencies should lead 
them to new counsels. 

The nation was in an ill condition for a war with such a 
might}'' prince ; — labouring under great distractions at 
home ; the people generally crying out for a reformation, 
despising the clergy, and loving the new preachers. The 
priests were for the must part very ignorant, and scanda- 
lous in their lives : many of them had been monks, and 
those who were to pay them the pensions which were re- 
served to them at the destruction of the monasteries, till 
lliey should be provide , took care to get them in some 
small benefice. The greatest part of the parsonages were 
impropriated, for they belonged to the monasteries, and 
the abbots had only granted the incumbents, either the 
vicarage, or some small donative, and left them the per- 
quisites raised by masses and other offices. At the sup- 
pression of those houses there was no care taken to make 
provision for the incumbents ; so that they were in some 



325 

measure compelled to continue in their idolatrous practices 
for subsistence. 

Now these persons saw that a reformation of those 
abuses would deprive them of their means of existence ; 
and, therefore, they were at first zealous against all changes; 
but the same principle made them comply with every 
change which was made rather than lose their benefices. 
The clergy were encouraged in their opposition to the re- 
formation by the protection they expected from Gardiner, 
Bonner, and TonstaH, men of great reputation and in 
power ; and, above all, the lady Mary, the next heir to 
the crown, openly declared against all changes till the king 
should be of age. 

On the other hand, Cranmer resolved to proceed more 
vigorously : the protector was firmly united to him, as 
were the young king's tutors, and Edward himself was as 
much engaged as could be expected from so young a per- 
son ; for both his knowledge and zeal for true religion were 
above his age. Several of the bishops also declared for a 
reformation, but Ridley, bishop of Rochester, was the per- 
son on whom Cranmer most depended. Latimer remained 
with him at Lambeth, and did great service by his sermons, 
which were very popular ; but he would not return to his 
bishopric, choosing rather to serve the church in a more 
disengaged manner. Assisted by these persons, Cranmer 
resolved to proceed by degrees, and to give the reasons of 
everv advance so fully, that he hoped by the blessing of 
God, to convince the nation of the fitness of whatsoever 
should be done, and thereby prevent the dangerous opposi- 
tion that might otherwise be apprehended. 

Visitation of all the Churches. 

The power of the privy council had been much exalted 
in the last reign, by act of parliament ; and one proviso 
made was, that the king's council should have the same 
authority when he was under age that he himself had at full 
age. It was, therefore, resolved to begin with a general 
visitation of all England, which was divided into six pre- 
cincts : and two gentlemen, a civilian, a divine, and a re- 
gister, were appointed for each of these. But before they 

28 



526 

were sent out, a letter was written to all the bishops, giving 
them notice of it, suspending their jurisdiction while it 
lasted, and requiring them to preach no where but in their 
cathedrals, and that the other clergy should not preach 
but in their own churches, without license ; by which il 
was intended to restrain such as were not acceptable to their 
own parishes, and to grant the others licenses to preach in 
any church of England. The greatest difficulty the re- 
formers found was in the want of able and prudent men; 
most of the reformed preachers being too hot and indiscreet, 
and the few who were otherwise were required in London 
and the universities. 

The only thing by which the people could be universally 
instructed was a book of homilies : therefore the twelve 
first homilies, in the book still known by that name, were 
compiled ; in framing which the chief design was to ac- 
quaint the people rightly with the nature of the gospel 
covenant. Orders were also given, that a Bible should be 
in every church, which, though it had been commanded by 
Henry, yet had not been generally obeyed ; and for under- 
standing the New Testament, Erasmus's paraphrase was 
translated into English, and appointed to be placed with it 
His great reputation and learning, and his dying in the 
communion of the Roman church, made this book prefer- 
able to any other of the kind. 

The injunctions made by Cromwell in the former reign 
for instructing the people, for removing images, and put- 
ting down all other customs abused to superstition ; for 
reading the Scriptures, saying the litany in English, for 
frequent sermons and catechising, for the exemplary lives 
of the clergy, their labours in visiting the sick, reconciling 
differences, and exhorting the people to charity, &x., were 
now renewed ; and all who gave livings by sinmniacal bar- 
gains, were declared to have forfeited their right of patron 
age to the king. A great charge was also given for the 
strict observation of the Lord's day, which was appointed 
to be spent wholly in the service of God, it not being 
enough to hear mass or matins in the morning, and spend 
the rest of the day in drunkenness and quarrelling, as was 
commonly practised : but it ought to be all employed, 
either in the duties of religion, or in acts of charity. Di- 



POX S BOOK OF MAltTVRS. 327 

rection was also given for the saying of prayers, in which 
the king, as supreme head, and the queen, and the king's 
sisters, the protector and council, and all oiders of per- 
sons in the kingdom, were to be mentioned. Injunctions 
were also given for the bishops to preach four times a year 
in all their diocesses, once in their cathedral, and thrice in 
any other church, unless they had a good excuse to the 
contrary : that their chaplains should preach often : and 
that they should give orders to none but such as were duly 
qualified. 

The visiters at length ended the visitation, and in Lon« 
don and every part of England, the images, for refusing to 
bow down to which many a saint had been burnt, were 
now committed to the flames. Bonner at first protested 
that he would obey the injunctions s if they were not con- 
trary to the laws of God and the ordinances of the church: 
but being called before the council, he retracted, and 
asked pardon ; yet, for an example to others, he was some 
time confined. Gardiner wrote to one of the visiters, be- 
fore they came to Winchester, that he could not receive 
the homilies ; and if he must either quit his bishopric, or 
sin against his conscience, he resolved to choose the for- 
mer. Upon this he was called before the council, and re- 
quired to receive the book of homilies: but he objected to 
one of them, which taught that chanty did not justify, con- 
trar}' to the book published by the late king, and confirmed 
in parliament. He also complained of many things in Eras- 
mus's paraphrase ; and being pressed to declare whether 
he would obey the injunctions or not, he refused to pro- 
mise it, and was in consequence sent to the Fleet. Cran- 
mer treated in private with him, and they argued much 
about justification. Gardiner thought the sacraments jus- 
tified, and that charity justified as well as faith. Cranmer 
urged that nothing but the merits of Christ justified, 
as they were applied by faith, which could not exist with- 
out charity. 

Gardiner lay in prison till the act of general pardon set 
him at liberty. Many blamed the severity of these pro- 
ceedings, as contrary both to law and equity, and said, 
that all people, even those who complained most of arbi- 
trary power, were apt to usurp it when in authority. Lady 
Mary was so much alarmed that she wrote to the protector 



328 

that such changes were contrary to the honour due to hei 
father's memory, and that it was against their duty to the 
king to enter upon such points, and endanger the puhlic 
peace before he was of age. To which he answered 
" That her father had died before he could finish the good 
things he had intended concerning religion ; and had ex- 
pressed his regret, both before himself and many others, 
that he left things in so unsettled a state; and assured her, 
that nothing should be done but what would turn to the 
glory of God, and the king's honour." 

New Acts of Parliament. 

The parliament was opened the fourth of November, 
and the protector was by patent authorized to sit under the 
cloth of state, on the right hand of the throne; and to 
have all the honours and privileges that : o near a relative 
of the sovereign had ever had. Rich was lord chancellor. 
The first act tihat passed, five bishops only v dissenting, was 
a repeal of all the statutes in the late reign, that had made 
any thing treason Oi* felony which was not so before, and 
of the six articles, and the authority given to the king's 
proclamations, as also of the acts against Lollards. By 
this act, all who denied the king's supremacy, or asserted 
the pope's, for the first offence- were to forfeit their goods; 
for the second, were to be in a praemunire; and were to 
be attainted of treason for the third. If any one attempted 
to deprive the king of his estate or title, he was was ad- 
judged guilty of treason ; but none were to be accused of 
words, but within a month after they were spoken. The 
king's power of annulling all laws made, before he was 
twenty-four years of age, was also repealed, and restricted 
to the annulling them for the time to come. 

Another act passed, with the same dissent, for the laity 
receiving the sacrament in both kinds, and that the people 
should always communicate with the priest; and by it irre- 
verence to the sacrament was condemned under severe 
penalties. 

Another act was passed without any dissent, ordaining 

hat the conge* tftlire, and the election pursuant to it, should 

ease for the future, and that bishops should be named by 

;he king's letters patent and thereupon be consecrated; 



fox's book of martyrs. 



329 



aod should hold their courts in the king's name, and not in 
their own, excepting only the archbishop of Canterbury's 
court: and they were to use the king's seal in all their 
writings, except in presentations, collations, and letters of 
orders, in which they might use their own seals. 

Another act was made against rogues and vagabonds, 
decreeing that they should be made slaves for two years, 
by any who should seize on them : this was chiefly in- 
tended to operate against some vagrant monks, who went 
about the country infusing into the people a dislike of the 
government. But a state of slavery is so contrary to the 
feelings of every English heart, that no person could be 
found to act upon it ; and the odious statute was virtually 
repealed. An act was next proposed for giving the king 
ail those chantries which his father had not seized on. 
Cranmer much opposed this ; " For," he said, " xhe po- 
verty of the clergy was such that the state of learning and 
religion was like to suffer greatly if it should not be re- 
lieved ; and yet he saw no probable fund for that, but the 
preserving these till the king should come to age, and allow 
the selling them, for buying in of at least such a share of the 
impropriations as might afford them some more comforta- 
ble subsistence ;" yet, notwithstanding the dissent of him- 
self, and seven other bishops, it was passed. The last act 
was for granting a general pardon, but clogged with some 
exceptions. 

The convocation sat at the same time ; and moved that 
the commission begun in the late reign for reforming the 
ecclesiastical laws, might be revived, and that the inferior 
clergy might be admitted to sit in the house of commons, 
for which they alleged a clause in the bishop's writ, and 
ancient custom ; and since some prelates had, under the 
former reign, begun to alter the service of the church, they 
desired it might be brought to perfection ; and that some 
care might be taken for supplying the poor clergy, and re- 
lieving them from the taxes that lay so heavily on them. 
The claim of the inferior clergy to sit in the house of com- 
mons occasioned some debate, but to no effect. 

It was resolved that some bishops and divines should be 
sent to Windsor, to finish some reformations in the public 
offices ; for the whole lower house of convocation, without 
a contradictory vote, agreed to the bill about the sacra- 

2S* 



330 pox's book of martyrs. 

ment. A proposition being also set on foot concerning the 
lawfulness of the marriage of the clergy, thirty- five sub- 
scribed to the affirmative, and only fourteen dissented. 

Gardiner, being included in the act of pardon, was set 
at liberty ; he promised t » receive and obey the injunc- 
tions, objecting only to the homily of justification ; yet he 
complied in that likewise ; but it was visible that in his 
heart he abhorred all these nroceedings, though he out- 
wardly conformed. 

Ceremonies Abolished. 

Candlemas and Lent were now approaching, and the 
clergy and people were much divided with respect to the 
ceremonies usual at those times. By some injunctions in 
Henry's reign it had been declared that fasting in Lent 
was only binding by a positive law. Wakes and Plough- 
Mondays were also suppressed, and hints were given that 
other customs, which were much abused, should be shortly 
done away. The rabble loved these things, as matters of 
diversion, and thought divine worship without them would 
be but a dull business. But others looked on them as 
relics of heathenism, and thought they did not become the 
giavity and simplicity of the Christian religion. 

Cranmer procured an order of council against the car- 
rying of candles on Candlemas-day, of ashes on Ash- 
Wednesday, and palms on Palm-Sunday ; which was 
directed to Bonner to be intimated to the bishops of the 
province of Canterbury, and was executed by him. But 
a proclamation followed against all who should make 
changes without authority. The creeping to the cross, 
and taking holy bread and water, were put down, and 
power was given to the archbishop of Canterbury to cer- 
tify, in the king's name, what ceremonies should be after- 
ward laid aside ; and none were to preach out of their 
own parishes without license from the king or the visiters, 
the archbishop, or the bishop of the diocese. Soon after 
this, a general order followed for a removal of all images 
out of the churches, which occasioned great contests whether 
the images had been abused to superstition or not. Some 
thought the Consecration of them was an abuse. Those 
also which represented the Trinity as a man with three 



fox's book op martyrs. 331 

faces in one head ; or as an old man with a young man 
before him, and a dove over his head ; and some, where 
the blessed Virgin was represented as admitted into it, 
gave so great scandal, that it was no wonder if men, as 
.hey grew more enlightened, could no longer endure them. 
The only occasion given to censure in this order, was, that 
all shrines, and the plate belonging to them, were ap- 
pointed to be brought in for the king's use. 



CHAPTER III. 

A New Office for the Communion. 

Eighteen bishops and some other divines were now 
employed to examine and amend the offices of the church. 
They began with the Eucharist, and proceeded in the 
same manner as in the former reign. It was clearly found 
that the plain institution of the sacrament was much 
vitiated with a mixture of many heathenish rites and 
pomps, to raise the credit of the priests, in whose hands 
that great performance was lodged. This was at first 
done to draw over the heathen by those splendid rites to 
Christianity ; but superstition, once begun, has no bounds ; 
and ignorance and barbarity increasing in the middle ages, 
there was no regard had to any thing in religion, but as it 
was set off with pageantry ; and the belief of the corporeal 
presence raised this to a still greater height. The office 
was in an unknown tongue ; all the vessels and garments 
belonging to it were consecrated with much devotion ; a 
great part of the service was secret, to make it look like a 
wonderful charm ; the consecration itself was to be said 
very softly, for words that were not to be heard agreed 
best with a change that was not to be seen : the many ges- 
ticulations and the magnificent processions all tended to 
raise this pageantry higher. Masses were also said for all 
the affairs of human life. Trentals, a custom of having 
thirty masses a year on the chief festivals for redeeming 
souls out of purgatory, was that which brought the priests 
most money, for these were thought to be God's best days, 
in which access was easier to him ! On saint's days, in 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 

the mass it was prayed, that by the saints' intercession the 
sacrifice might become the more acceptable, and procure a 
more ample indulgence ; which could not be easily ex- 
plained, if the sacrifice were the death of Christ. Beside 
the before-mentioned, a numberless variety of other rites 
nd ceremonies, borrowed from the heathens, were made 
se of for corrupting the holiest institutions of the Christian 
religion. 

The first step that was now taken was to make a new 
office for the communion, that is, the distribution of the 
sacrament, for the office of consecration was not at this 
t'me touched. In the exhortation, auricular confession to 
a priest is left free to be done or omitted, and all were re- 
quired not to judge one another in that matter. There 
was also a denunciation made, requiring impenitent sinners 
to withdraw. The bread was to be still of the same form 
as that formerly used. In the distribution it was said, 
" The body of our Lord, &c, preserve thy body ; and the 
blood of our Lord, <fcc, preserve thy soul." This was 
printed, with a proclamation, requiring all to receive it 
with such reverence and uniformity as might encourage the 
king to proceed further, and not to run to other tilings be- 
fore the king gave direction, assuring the people of his 
earnest zeal to set forth godly orders ; and therefore it was 
hoped, they would wait for it : the books were sent all 
over England, and the clergy were appointed to adminis- 
ter the communion at the following Easter according to 
them. 

Auricular Confession Examined. 

Confession was next examined ; and it was found that 
the practice had commenced in the early ages of the 
church ; and penances had been imposed by the priests. 
Afterward, pilgrimages, and crusades against heretics, or 
princes deposed by the pope, were commanded instead of 
all other penances : the priests also managed confession 
and absolution so as to enter into all men's secrets, and to 
govern their consciences by them ; many reserved cases 
were made, in which the pope only gave absolution ; this 
occasioned the trade of indulgences to be put in their hands 
which they managed with as much confidence as mounte- 



pox's book of m art \ ns. 333 

banKS use in selling their medicines, with this superior ad- 
vantage over other quacks, that the incfficacy of their de- 
vices was not so easily discovered. 

Gardiner was now again brought into trouble ; many 
complaints weie made of him, that he disparaged the 
preachers sent with the king's license into his diocese, and 
that he secretly opposed all reformation. On being brought 
before the council, he denied most of the things objected 
to him, and offered to explain himself openly in a sermon 
before the king. This being granted, he justified many of 
the changes that had been made ; but when he came to 
the sacrament, he contended so strongly for the corporeal 
presence, that a great disturbance took place in the church. 
This conduct being deemed seditious, he was sent to the 
Tower. 

A New Liturgy Composed. 

But now a more general reformation of the whole liturgy 
was under consideration, that all the nation might have a 
uniformity in the worship of God. Anciently the liturgies 
were short, and had few ceremonies in them : every bishop 
had one for his diocese ; but in the African churches they 
began first to put them into a more regular form. Gregory 
the Great laboured much in this ; yet he left Augustine, 
when he sent him into Britain, to his choice, either to use 
the Roman or French forms in England, as he found they 
were like to tend most to edification. Great additions had 
been made to the liturgy in every age; for the private de- 
votions of some who were reputed saints, were added to 
the public offices : and mysterious significations were in- 
vented for every new rite, which swelled them to a vast 
bulk. It was now resolved to have a liturgy, which should 
bring the worship to a proper mean between the pomp of 
superstition, and naked simplicity. It was resolved to 
change nothing, merely in opposition to received practices, 
but rather (in imitation of what Christ did in the institu- 
tion of the two sacraments of the gospel, that consisted of 
rites used among the Jews, but sanctified by h»m to highei 
purposes) to comply with what had been formerly in use, 
as much as was possible, thereby to gain the people. 

All the consecrations of water, salt. &c, in the church 



834 tf«X*S BOOK Of* MAftfYKSi 

of Rome, being relics of heathenism, were laid aside. 
The absolutions on account of the merits of the biessed 
virgin and the saints, the sprinklings of water, fastings, 
and pilgrimages, with many other things; and the absolu- 
tion given to dead bodies, were looked upon as gross im- 
postures, tending to make the world think that the priests 
had the keys of heaven in their hands, and could carry 
people thither on easier terms than the gospel prescribes. 
This induced the people to purchase their favour, espe- 
cially when they were dying ; so that, as their fears were 
then heightened, there was no other way left them, in the 
conclusion of an ill life, to die with any hopes of eternal 
happiness, but as they bargained with their priests ; all 
this was now rejected. 

It was resolved to have the whole worship in the vulgar 
tongue ; as enabling all persons to join in " praising God 
with understanding." As white had been the colour of 
the priest's vestments, under the mosaical la*v, had early 
been brought into the Christian churches, and was a pro- 
per expression of innocence, and it being fit that the wor- 
ship of God should be performed in a decent habit, it was 
continued. 

The morning and evening prayers were but almost in 
the same form as that in which they now stand, only there 
was neither confession nor absolution. In the office for 
the communion, there was a commemoration of thanks- 
giving for the blessed virgin and all departed saints, and 
they were commended to God's mercy and peace. In the 
consecration, the use of crossing the elements was re- 
tained ; but there was no elevation, which was. at first 
u^ed as a historical rite, to show Christ's being lifted up 
on the cross ; but it was afterward done, to excite the peo- 
ple to adore it. No stamp was to be on the bread, and it 
was to be thicker than ordinary. It was to be put in the 
people's mouths by the priests, though it had been an- 
ciently put in their hands ; but after the corporeal pre- 
sence was acknowledged, the people were not suffered tc 
touch it, and the priest's thumbs and fingers were pe 
culiarly anointed, to qualify them for that contact. In 
baptism the child's head and breast were to be crossed, 
and adjuration was to be made of the devil to depart from 
mm : children were to be thrice dipped, or, in case of 



FOX'S tlOOK OF MARTYRS. 335 

weakness, water was to be sprinkled on their faces, and 
then they were to be anointed. The sick might also be 
anointed if they desired it. At funerals, the departed 
soul was recommended to God's mercy. 

The sacraments were formerly believed of such virtue, 
that they conferred grace by the very receiving them. 
Acting on this belief, the early Christians used to send 
portions of the eucharist to the sick, but without any 
pomp : which was a corruption of later times. But in- 
stead of the procession with the host, it was now ap- 
pointed that the sacraments should be ministered to the 
sick, being consecrated by their bedsides ; and, in case of 
weakness, children were allowed to be baptized in houses t 
though it was more suitable to the design of bapti-sm 
which was the admission of a new member to the church 
«.o do it before the whole congregation. 

The liturgy thus compiled, was published, with a pre 
face concerning ceremonies. 

When the book came before the public, several things 
were censured ; as particularly the frequent use of the 
cross, and anointing. The former was at first used as a 
badge of a crucified Saviour, but was much corrupted by 
the priests in after ages, so that it was at length believed 
to have a virtue for driving away evil spirits, and pre- 
serving one from dangers ; and acquired a kind of sacra- 
mental character, entirely unfounded in Scripture or rea- 
son ; but the using it as a ceremony, expressing the 
believing in a crucified Saviour, could imply no super- 
stition. 

The protestant religion now appeared almost ruined in 
Germany, and this made the reformers turn their eyes to 
England. Calvin wrote to the protector, and pressed him 
to go on to a more complete reformation, and that prayers 
for the dead, the chrism, and extreme unction, might be 
laid aside. He desired him to trust in God, and go on, 
and wished there were more preaching, and in a more 
lively way than he heard was then in England : but prayed 
him to suppress that impiety and profanity that, as he 
was told, abounded in the nation. 

In February 1549, an act passed, allowing the clergy to 
marry. It was declared, " That it were better for piiests 
to live unmarried, free of all worldly cares; yet since the 



836 F©>'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

iaws compelling it had occasioned great debauchery, they 
were all repealed." The pretence of chastity in the Ro- 
mish priests had possessed the world with a high opinion of 
them, and had been a great reflection on the reformers, if 
the world had not clearly seen through it and been made 
very sensible of the ill effects of it, by the defilement it 
brought into their own families. Nor was there any point 
in which the reformers had searched the Scriptures more, 
to remove the prejudice that lay against them. In the Old 
Testament all the priests were not only married, but the 
office descended by inheritance. In the New Testament 
marriage was declared honourable in all : among the qua- 
lifications of bishops and deacons, their being the husbands 
of one wife, are reckoned up. Many of the apostles were 
married, and carried their wives about with them as also 
Aquila did Priscilla. 

Another act was passed, confirming the liturgy, which 
was now finished ; eight bishops and three temporal lords 
only protesting against it. There was a long preamble, 
setting forth the inconveniencies of the former offices, and 
the pains that had been taken to reform them ; and that 
divers bishops and divines had, by the aid of the Holy 
Ghost, with a uniform agreement concluded on the new 
hook : therefore they enacted that by Whitsunday next 
all divine offices should be performed according to it ; and 
if any persons used other offices, for the first offence, they 
should be imprisoned six months, lose their benifices for 
the second, and be imprisoned during life for the third 

Anotl»er act was also passed respecting fasting, declar- 
ng, " That though all days and meats were in themselves 
alike, yet fasting being a great help to virtue, and to the 
subduing the body to the mind, it was enacted, that Lent, 
and all Fridays and Saturdays, and ember-days, should be 
fish-days, under several penalties, excepting the weak, or 
those that had the king's license." Christ had told his dis- 
ciples, that when he was taken from them, they should fast : 
so in the primitive church they fasted before Easter ; but 
the same number of days was not observed in all places; 
afterward, other rules and days were established : but St. 
Austin complained, that many in his time placed all their 
religion in observing them. Fast days are turned to a 
mockery in the church of Rome, in which they dine on 
fish exquisitely drest and drink wine. 



fox's book of martyrs. 337 

A new Visitation. 

Both the laity and clergy gave the king subsidies, upon 
wnich the parliament was prorogued. The first thing at- 
tended to was the enforcing the act of uniformity. Some 
complaints were made of the priests' manner of officiating, 
who did it with such a tone of voice that the people could not 
understand what was said, any more than when the prayers 
were said in Latin. Prayers were, therefore, ordered to be 
said in parish churches in a plain voice, but in cathedrals the 
old way was still kept up, as agreeing better with the music 
used in them ; though this seemed not very decent in the 
confession of sins, nor in the litany, where a simple voice, 
gravely uttered, agreed better with those devotions than 
cadonces and musical notes. Others continued to use all 
the gesticulations, crossings-, and kneelings, to which they 
had formerly been accustomed. The people also contin- 
ued the use of their beads, which had been brought in by 
Peter the Hermit, in the eleventh century, by which the 
repeating the angel's salutation to the Virgin was made 
a great part of their devotion, and was ten times said for 
one Paternoster. Instructions were given to the visiters 
to put all these down, and to inquire if any priests conti- 
nued their trentals or masses for departed souls. Orders 
were also given, that there should be no private masses at 
altars in the corners of churches ; also that there should be 
but one communion in a day, unless in great churches, 
and at high festivals, in which they were allowed to have 
two, one in the morning, and another at noon. 

The visiters made their report, that they found the book 
of common prayer received universally over the kingdom, 
except that the lady Mar} 7 continued to have mass said ac- 
cording to the abrogated forms. Upon this the council 
wrote to her to conform to the laws ; " for the nearer she 
was to the king in blood, she was so much the more obliged 
to give example to the rest of the subjects." She refused 
to comply with their desires, and sent to the emperor for 
his protection ; upon which he pressed the English am- 
bassadors, who promised that she should be dispensed 
with, at least for the present. The emperor pretended af- 
terwards that they had made him an absolute promise that 
lie should never more be troubled about it, but they said it 

29 



&&& POX'S BOOK OP MARTYltS. 

was only a temporary one. She refused to acknowledge 
the laws made when the king was under age, and carried 
herself very haughtily ; for she well knew that the protec* 
tor was then fearful of a war with France, which made the 
emperor's alliance more necessary to England : yet the 
council sent for the officers of her household, and requir- 
ed them to let her know, that the king's authority was the 
same while he was a child, as if he were at full age ; and 
that it was now lodged in them, and though, as single per- 
sons, they were all inferior to her, yet as they were the 
king's council, she was bound to obey them, especially 
when they executed the law ; which all subjects, of what 
rank soever, were bound to obey. At present, however, 
they durst go no further for fear of the emperor's displeasure. 

Anabaptists in England, 

There were some anabaptists at this time in England, 
who came from Germany. Of these there were two sorts; 
the first only objected to the baptizing of children, and 
to the manner of it, by sprinkling instead of dipping. 
The other held many opinions, anciently condemned as 
heresies : they had raised a war in Germany, and had set 
up a new king at Minister ; but all these were called Ana- 
baptists, from their opposition to infant baptism, though it 
was one of the mildest opinions they held. When they 
came to England, a commission was granted to some bishops, 
and others to search them out, and to proceed against 
them. Several of these persons, on being taken up and 
brought before them, abjured their errors, some of which 
were, " That there was not a trinity of persons ; that 
Christ was not God, and took not flesh of the Virgin ; and 
that a regenerate man could not sin." 

Joan Boacher, called Joan of Kent, one of their prose- 
lytes, persisted in her error, and denied that Christ took 
flesh of the substance of his mother ; she was intolerably 
vain of her notions, and rejected with scorn all the in- 
structions offered her ; she was therefore condemned as an 
obstinate heretic, and delivered to the secular power. But 
it was with the most extreme reluctance that the king 
signed the warrant for her execution ; he thought it was 
an instance of the same soirit of cruelty for which the re- 



FOX T S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 339 

formers condemned tlie papists and notwithstanding all the 
arguments that were used with him, he was rather silenced 
than satisfied,- and signed the warrant with tears in his 
eyes, saving to Cranmer, that since he resigned up him- 
self to his judgment, if he sinned in it, it should lie at his 
door. This struck the archhishop ; and both he and Rid- 
ley took great pains with her, and 'tried what reason, join- 
ed with gentleness, could do. But she growing still more 
and more insolent, at last was burnt, and ended her life 
very indecently breaking out often in jeers and reproaches. 
Some time after this, George Van Parre, a Dutchman, 
was also condemned and burnt for denying the divinity of 
Christ, and saying that the Father only was God. He had 
led a very exemplary life, both for fasting, devotion, and 
a good conversation, and suffered with extraordinary com- 
posure of mind. Against the other sort of anabaptists no 
severities were used : but several books were written to 
justify infant baptism ; and the practice of the church, so 
clearly begun, and so universally spread, was thought a 
good plea, especially as it was grounded on such arguments 
in Scripture, as demonstrated at least its lawfulness. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Rebellion in Devonshire and other Parts. 

About this time a rebellion broke out in many parts of 
England, partly arising from a jealousy in the commons 
•against the nobility and gentry, who finding more advan- 
tage by the trade of wool than by that of corn, generally 
enclosed their grounds, and turned them to pasture, by 
which a great number of persons were thrown out of em- 
ployment, and a general consternation was spread through- 
out the country. The other cause was the unquenched 
enmity of the popish priests to the reformation, and their 
endeavours to revive in the minds of the blind multitude 
their former errors. 

In Devonshire, the insurrection was very formidable, 
and the rebels became quickly ten thousand strong. Lord 
Russel was sent against them with a small force, and order 



340 

ed to endeavour to prevail on them to disperse withou* 
shedding blood: but Arundel, a man of quality, being at 
their head, they were not a mere rabble, easily scattered, 
but had more of the discipline and consequent strength 
of a regular army. They, however, consented to treat 
with Lord Russel, and by him forwarded the following de- 
mands to the court : " That the old service and ceremo- 
nies might be set up again ; that the act of the six articles, 
and the decrees of general councils, might be again in 
force ; that the Bible in English should be called in ; that 
preachers should pray for the souls in purgatory ; that car- 
dinal Pole should be recalled ; that the half of the abbey 
lands should be restored, to found two abbeys in every 
county ; and that gentlemen of 100 marks a year might 
have one servant ;" and they desired a safe-conduct for 
their chief leaders, in order to the redress of their particu- 
lar grievances : they afterward reduced their demands to 
those only which related to religion. 

Cranmer wrote an answer to these, showing " The 
novelty and superstition of those rites and ceremonies, and 
of all that method of worship of which they were so fond ; 
and that the amendments and changes had been made ac- 
cording to the Scriptures, and the customs of the primitive 
church : that their being partial to a worship which they 
understood not, and being desirous to be kept still in ig- 
norance, without the Scriptures, proved that their priests 
had greater power over them than the common reason of 
all mankind had : as for the six articles, that act had never 
passed if the late king had not gone in person to the par- 
liament, and argued for it : yet he soon saw his error, and 
was slack in executing it." 

After this, a threatening letter was sent to them, in the 
king's name, upbraiding them for their rebellion and blind 
obedience to their priests. In it the authority of the king, 
although under age, was shown at large ; for by the pre- 
tence of the king's minority, the people generally were 
taught to believe that their rising in arms was not rebellion. 
In conclusion, they were earnestly invited to submit to the 
royal mercy, as others had done, whom the king had not 
only pardoned, but had redressed their just grievances. 

A fast was proclaimed at court, where Cranmer preached 
with great freedom and vehemence : he reproved the as- 



fox's book of martyrs. 34] 

gembly for their vicious lives, particularly those who pre- 
tended a love to the gospel ; and set before them the 
judgments of God, which they might expect would over- 
take their misdeeds, if they did not repent and amend their 
lives. 

The rebels still continuing in arms, troops were sent 
against them, and after some resistance in Oxfordshire, 
Devonshire, and Norfolk, they were at length every 
where routed, their leaders punished, and tranquillity 
res + ored. 

Visitation of Cambridge. 

A visitation of Cambridge followed soon after this. 
Ridley was the chief of the visiters ; but when he found 
that a design was laid to suppress some colleges, under 
pretence of uniting them to others, and to convert some 
fellowships that were provided for divines, to the study of 
the civil law, he refused his assent. He said, " The 
church was already too much robbed, and yet some men's 
ravenousness was not yet satisfied. It seemed a design 
was laid to drive both religion and learning out of the land ; 
therefore he desired leave to be gone." The other visiters 
complained of him to the protector, who wrote him a re- 
proving letter : but he answered it with the freedom that 
became a bishop, who was resolved to suffer all things 
rather than sin against his conscience ; and the protector 
was so well satisfied with him, that, for his sake, the col- 
lege of Clare-hall, the suppression of which he had strong- 
ly objected to, was preserved. 

Bonner Prosecuted. 

Bonner was now brought into trouble. It was not easy 
to know how to deal with him, for he obeyed every order 
that was sent him, and yet it was known that he secretly 
hated and condemned all that was done ; and as often as 
he could declare that safely, he did so, and by such means 
preserved his interest with the papists : and though he 
obeyed the orders of the council, yet he did it in so remiss 
a manner, that it was visibly against his inclination. He 
was, therefore called before the council, and charged with 
29* 



842 

several particulars, that " Whereas he used to officiate 
himself on the great festivals, he had not done it since the 
new service was set out ; that he took no care to repress 
adultery, and that he never preached." On examination 
proving very refractory and violent, he was deprived of 
his bishopric, and committed to prison during the king's 
pleasure. 

Fall of the Protector, 

The English affairs upon the continent this year were 
extremely unsuccessful, and the fault being laid on the 
protector, heavy complaints were made against him ; and 
his enemies, who were very numerous and powerful, 
openly declared their hostility. The earls of Southampton 
and of Warwick were the chief; the one hated him for 
dismissing him from the chancellorship, and the other be- 
cause he was his rival in power and dignity. 

The privy counsellors complained that he was become 
so arbitrary in his proceedings, that he little regarded the 
opposition that was made by the majority of the council, 
to any of his designs. All those things concurred to create 
him many enemies ; and, except Cranmer, Paget, and 
Smith, all turned against him. 

The protector conducted the king to Hampton court, 
and put many of his own people about him, which in- 
creased the jealousies of the opposite party ; upon which 
nine of the privy council met at Ely-house, and assumed 
to themselves the authorit}' of the council ; and secretary 
Petre being sent by the king, to ask an account of their 
meeting, instead of returning, joined himself to them. 
They made a full declaration of the protector's ill govern- 
ment ; and stated that " Therefore they resolved, them- 
selves, to see the safety of the king and kingdom." Both 
the city of London, and the lieutenant of the Tower de- 
clared for them : they also sent letters all over England, 
desiring the assistance of the nobility and gentry, and seven 
more of the privy council joined them. 

The protector had removed the king from Hampton 
court to Windsor-castle, which was capable of some de- 
fence ; and had armed some of his own servants ; yet 
seeing himself /abandoned by nearly all his friends, and 



fox's book of martyrs. 343 

6nding the party against him growing to such a strength, 
tiiat it would be in vain to struggle any longer, he offered 
to submit himself to the council. A proposition for a 
treaty was accordingly set on foot ; and the lords of Lon- 
don were desired to send two of their number with their 
proposals. Cranmer, and the other two, wrote to the 
council, to persuade them to an agreement, and not to fol- 
low cruel suggestions. 

Many false reports' of the protector were spread abroad, 
as, that he had threatened, if they intended to put him to 
death, the king should die first ; which served to increase 
the prejudices against him. The council wrote to Cran- 
mer and Paget, charging them " To look well to the king's 
person, that he should not be removed from Windsor; and 
that the duke of Somerset's dependants might be put from 
him, and his own sworn servants admitted to wait :" they 
also protested that they would proceed with all the mo- 
deration and favour that was possible toward the duke. 
The council, understanding that all things were prepared 
as they had desired, sent three of their number, to see 
that the duke and five of his followers should be confined 
to their apartments : and on the 12th of October, the 
whole council went to Windsor and made great protesta- 
tions of their duty to the king, which he received favoura- 
bly, and assured them he took all that they had done in 
good part. 

Accordingly, the duke of Somerset, with four of those 
w r ho had been confined, w r ere sent to the Tower, and many 
articles were objected to the duke, " That he being made 
protector, with this condition, that he should do nothing 
but by the consent of the other executors, had treated 
with ambassadors apart ; had made bishops and lord-lieu- 
tenants without their knowledge ; had held a court of re- 
quests in his house ; embased the coin ; neglected the 
places the king had in France ; encouraged the commons 
in their late insurrections ; and had given out commissions 
and proclaimed a pardon without their consent : that he 
had animated the king against the rest of the council, and 
had proclaimed them traitors, and had put his own servants 
armed about the king's person." 

By these charges, it appears, that the crimes alleged 
against him were the effects of his sudden exaltation, which 



344 fox's book of martyrs. 

had made him forget that he was a subject. He, howevei, 
had carried his greatness with much innocence, since, 
in all the studied charges brought against him by his nu- 
merous enemies, no acts of cruelty, rapine, or bribery, 
were objected to him. His faults were rather errors and 
weaknesses, than crimes. His " embasing the coin" was 
done upon a common mistake of weak governments, who 
fly to that as their last refuge in the necessity of their af- 
fairs. In his imprisonment, he set himself to the study of 
moral philosophy and divinity, and wrote a preface to a 
book on patience, which had made a great impression on 
his mind. His fall was a great affliction to all who loved 
the reformation, and this was much increased, by their 
fears of two of his greatest enemies ; of whom South- 
ampton was a known papist, and Warwick was looked on 
as a man of no religion. 

But this event, while it depressed the reformers, raised 
the spirits of the papists : the duke of Norfolk and Gar- 
diner hoped to be discharged. Bonner expected to be re- 
established in his bishopric; and the new service was ne- 
glected in many places : but the earl of Warwick, finding 
the king zealously attached to the reformation, affected 
to be a great promoter of that cause. A court of civilians 
was appointed to examine Bonner's appeal, and upon their 
report the council rejected it, and confirmed his sentence. 

In November, the parliament met : in which a kind of 
riot act was passed, declaring it treason in any persons to 
assemble to the number of twelve, if, on being requested 
they did not disperse. The bishops made a heavy com- 
plaint of the growth of vice and impiety, and that their 
power was so much abridged that they could not repress 
it. Accordingly, a bill was read, enlarging their authority, 
which was passed by the lords ; but the commons rejected 
it, and instead of it, sent up a bill that empowered thirty- 
two persons who were to be named by the king, " the one 
half of the temporally, and the other of the spirtualty, to 
compile a body of ecclesiastical laws within three years ; 
and that these, not being contrary to the common or statute 
law, and approved of by the king, should have the force 
of ecclesiastical laws." 

Six bishops and six other clergymen were empowered 
to prepare a new form of ordination ; which being con- 



fox's book of martyrs. 345 

himed under the great seal, should take place after Apii 
next. Articles were also presented against the duke oi 
Somerset, with a confession signed by him, in which he 
protested that his errors had flowed rather from indiscre- 
tion than malice, and denied all treasonable designs against 
the king, or the realm. He was fined in £2000 a year in 
land, and was deprived of all his goods and offices. He 
complained of the heaviness of this sentence, and " de- 
sired earnestly to be restored to the king's favour, trusting 
that he should make amends for his past follies." He was 
discharged in the beginning of February, soon after which 
he w r as pardoned, and was again brought both to the court 
and council in April. 

The reformation now, after this confusion, recommenced 
with fresh vigour. The council sent orders throughout 
England, to require all to conform themselves to the new 
service, and to call in all the books of the old offices. An 
act was passed in parliament to the same effect. All the 
old books and images were appointed to be defaced, and 
all prayers to saints were to be struck out of the books of 
devotion published by the late king. 

The committee appointed to prepare the book of ordi- 
nations, finished their work with unanimity. They found 
that, in the ancient church, there was nothing used in ordi- 
nations, but prayer and imposition of hands ; the anointing 
and giving consecrated vestments being additions of later 
ages. In the council of Florence it was declared, that 
the rite of ordaining a priest, was the delivering the 
vessels for the eucharist, with a power to offer sacrifices 
to God for the dead and living, which was a novelty in- 
vented to support the belief of transubstantiation. All 
these additions were now cut off, ordination was restored 
to a greater simplicity ; and the form was almost the same 
as that still in use in the church of England ; only then, in 
ordaining a priest, the bishop was to lay one hand on his 
head, and with the other to give him a Bible, and a chalice, 
and bread in it. In the consecration of a bishop, the 
form was the same that we still employ, only then they re- 
tained the custom of giving the bishop a staff, saying these 
words, " Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd." 

At this time pope Paul the Third died. In the conclave 
that followed, cardinal Farnese promoted the interest of 



346 

cardinal Pole, whose wise behaviour at Trent had greatly 
raised him in the opinion of his contemporaries. It also 
appeared, that though he was of the emperor's faction, yet 
he did not serve him blindly. Some loaded him with the 
imputations of Lutheranism, and of incontinence; the last 
would not have hindered his advancement much, though 
true, yet he fully cleared himself from it : but the former 
lay heavier ; for in his retirement at Viterbo, where he 
was legate, he had given himself much to the study of con- 
troversies ; and Tranellius, Flaminio, and others suspected 
of Lutheranism, had lived in his house ; and in the discus- 
sions at the council of Trent he seemed favourable to 
some of their opinions. But the great sufferings both of 
himself and family in England, seemed to set him abo^e 
all suspicions. 

When his friends had almost gained a sufficient number 
of suffrages, he seemed little concerned at it, and rather 
declined than aspired to the dignity. When a full number 
of the cardinals had agreed, and came to adore him, ac- 
cording to the ordinary ceremony, he received it with his 
usual coldness ; and as they came in the night, he said, 
" God loved light," and therefore advised them to delay 
the adoration till day. The Italians, among whom ambi- 
tion is thought to be the characteristic of a great mind, 
looked on this as an insufferable piece of dulness ; so that 
the cardinals deserted him before day, and chose De Monte 
pope, who assumed the papal crown by the name of Julius 
the Third. His first promotion was very extraordinary, 
for he gave his own cardinal's hat to a servant who kept 
his monkey ; and being asked the reason of it, he said 
"He saw as much in his servant to recommend him to be a 
cardinal, as the conclave saw in him to induce them tG 
choose him pope." 

In February, Ridley was made bishop of London and 
Westminster, with license to hold two prebends ; and his 
patent was not during pleasure, but during life. 

About this time there was a rumour of a marriage be- 
tween the king, and a French princess, which grieved the 
reformers, who rather wished him to marry the daughter 
of the emperor Maximilian, who was believed to favour 
the reformation, and was esteemed one of the best men of 
the age. Dr. Latimer preached at court, and warned the 



FOX's BOOK OF MARTYRS. 347 

king of the ill effects of bad marriages, which were made 
up only as bargains, without affection between the parties \ 
and that they occasioned so much iniquity and so many 
divorces : he also complained of the luxury and vanity of 
the age, and pressed the setting up a primitive discipline in 
the church. He preached this as his last sermon, and 
therefore used great freedom. 

The see of Gloucester now became vacant, and Hooper 
was named to it. He had some scruples about the episco- 
pal vestments, and thought all those garments, having 
been consecrated with much superstition, were to be reck- 
oned among the elements condemned by St. Paul, but Rid- 
ley justified the use of them, and said, " The elements 
condemned by St. Paul, were only the Jewish ceremonies ; 
which he condemned, when they were imposed as essential; 
as that imported that the Mosaical law was not abrogated, 
and that the Messiah was not come." 

Cranmer desired Bucer's opinion concerning the lawful- 
ness of those habits, and the obligation lying on the sub- 
jects to obey the laws about them. His opinion was, that 
" Every creature of God was good, and that no former 
abuse could make a thing, indifferent in itself, become un- 
lawful. Yet, since those garments had been abused to su- 
perstition, and were like to become a subject of contention, 
he wished they might be taken away by law ; and that ec- 
clesiastical discipline, and a more complete reformation, 
might be pursued, and a stop put to the robbing of churches ; 
otherwise they might see in the present state of Ger- 
many, a dreadful prospect of that which England ought to 
look for. He wished that all good men would unite 
against the greater corruptions, and then lesser abuses 
would easily be redressed." Peter Martyr also delivered 
his opinion to the same purpose 

Hooper was suspended from preaching ; but the Earl 
oi Warwick wrote to Cranmer to dispense with him in that 
matter ; who answered, that while the law continued in 
force, he could not do it without incurring aprcemunire. 
Upon which the king wrote to the archbishop, allowing 
him to do it, and dispensing with the law. 



pox's book of martyrs. 
The Common Prayer Book revised. 

A design was now set on foot for a revision of the 
common prayer book : in order to which the opinion, of 
that eminent reformer Bucer was asked. He replied 
that " He approved the main parts of the former book, 
and wished there might be not only a denunciation against 
scandalous persons who came to the sacrament, but a dis- 
cipline to exclude them ; that the habits might be laid 
aside ; that no part of the communion office might be 
used, except when there was a sacrament ; that commu- 
nions might be more frequent ; that the prayers might be 
said in a plain voice ; the sacrament put in the people's 
hands ; and that there might be no prayers for the dead." 
He also advised " a change of several phrases in the of- 
fice of the communion that favoured transubstantiatioji too 
much ; and that baptism might be performed only in 
churches" ; he thought " the hallowing the water, the 
chrism, and the white garment, were too scenkal ; nor did 
he approve of abjuring the devil, nor of the godfather's 
answering in the child's name : he thought confirmation 
should be delayed till the person was of age, and came sin- 
cerely to renew the baptismal covenant ; and catechising 
should take place every holyday, both of children and 
adults. He disliked private marriages, extreme unction, 
and making offerings at the churching of women : and 
thought there ought to be greater strictness used in the 
examination of those persons who came to receive orders." 

At the same time he understood that the king expected 
a newyear's gift from him, of a book written particularly 
for his own use : he therefore, prepared a book concerning 
the kingdom of Christ ; in which he pressed much the 
setting up a strict discipline, the sanctification of the Lord's 
day, the appointing days of fasting, and that pluralities and 
non-residence of the clergy might be condemned ; that 
children might be catechised ; that the reverence due to 
churches might be preserved ; that the pastoral function 
might be restored to what it ought to be ; that bishops 
might throw off secular affairs, take care of their diocesses, 
and govern them by the advice of their presbyters ; that 
there might be rural bishops over twenty or thirty parishes 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 349 

and that provincial councils might meet twice a year ; 
that church lands should he restored, and that a fourth part 
should he assigned to the poor ; that marriage without con- 
sent of parents, should he annulled ; that a second mar- 
riage might be declared lawful, after a divorce for adultery 
and for some other reasons ; that care should betaken of the 
education of youth and for repressing luxury ; that the law- 
might be reformed ; that no office might be sold, but given 
to the most deserving ; that none should be put in prison 
for slight offences ; and that the severity of some laws, as 
that which made theft capital, might be mitigated. 

Edward was much pleased with these counsels ; and 
upon them began to form a scheme for amending many 
things that were amiss in the government. This he wrote 
out with his own hand, and in a style and manner which 
were rather childish, though the thoughts were manly. He 
also wrote a journal of every thing that passed at home, 
and of the news from beyond sea. It has clear marks of 
being his own composition. He also wrote another book 
in French, being a collection of all the places of scripture 
against idolatry, with a preface, and a dedication to the 
protector. 

At this time, Ridley made his first visitation of his dio- 
cess; the articles upon which he proceeded were chiefly re- 
lating to the service and ceremonies that were abolished. 
He also carried with him injunctions against some remain- 
ders of the former superstition, and exhortations to the peo- 
ple to be charitable, and to come frequently to the sacra- 
ment ; and he expressed a wish that altars in the churches 
should be removed, and tables put in their room, in the 
most convenient place of the chancel. In the ancient 
church their tables were of wood ; but the sacrament be- 
ing afterward called a sacrifice, they came to be called al- 
tars. This gave rise to the opinion of an expiatory sacrifice 
in the mass, and therefore it was now thought fit to take 
away both the name and form of altars. Ridley only advis- 
ed the curates to do this ; but upon some contests arising con- 
cerning it, the council interposed, and ordered it to be done ; 
sending with their order six reasons in justification of it, in 
which they showed that a table was more proper than an 
altar ; especially since the opinion of an expiatory sacrifice 
was supported b v y the latter. 

30 



350 fox's BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

The government was now free of all disturbance : the 
coinage was reformed, and trade was encouraged. The 
factions in the court seemed also to be extinguished by a 
marriage between the earl of Warwick's son and the duke 
of Somerset's daughter 

The popish clergy now complied with every change that 
was made. Oglethorpe, afterward bishop of Carlisle, be- 
ing informed against as a favourer of the old superstition, 
made a declaration, that " he thought the order of religion 
then settled, was nearer the use of the primitive church 
than that which was formerly received ; and that he 
condemned transubstantiationas a late invention, and ap- 
proved the communion in both kinds ; also the people's 
receiving it always with the priest." 

Smith, who had written against the marriage of the 
clergy, and had been imprisoned, but was discharged by 
Cranmer's intercession, wrote a submission to him, ac- 
knowledging the mistake he had committed in his book, 
and the archbishop's kindness toward him : concluding 
with a wish that " he might perish, if he were not sincere," 
and calling on " God, as a witness against his soul, if he 
lied." 

]>ay, the bishop of Chichester, preached at court against 
transubstantiation, and all opposition to the reformation 
seemed to have melted away ; but the calm was deceitful; 
the papists still abhorred the changes which had been made, 
and although they thought it prudent at present to comply 
with them, they resolved to seize the earliest opportunity 
of throwing off the mask. 

Martin Bucer died in the beginning of this year. He 
had entertained great apprehensions of a fatal revolution 
in England, on account of the bad lives of the people, the 
want of ecclesiastical discipline, and the neglect of the 
pastoral charge. Orders were sent from the court to 
Cambridge, to bury him with all the public honour to his 
memory that could be devised. Speeches and sermons 
were made by Haddon, the university orator, and by Par- 
ker and Redmayn. The last of these was one of the most 
extraordinary men both for learning and judgment In his 
time : he had differed in some points from Bucer y and yet 
he acknowledged, that there were none alive of whom he 
hoped to learn so much as he had done by his conversation 



FOX S BOOK Of MARTYRS. 351 

with hi m. Bucer was inferior to none of all the reformers 
in learning, and had a great zeal for the interests of the 
church ; but he had not that fluency in disputing for which 
Peter Martyr was admired, and the popish doctors took 
advantage from that to treat him with more insolence. 

Soon after this the process against Gardiner was brought 
to a conclusion : a commission was issued out to Cranmer, 
three bishops, and some civihans, to proceed against him, 
on the following charges : That he had refused to set out in 
his sermon the king's power, when he was under age, and 
had affronted the preachers, whom the king had sent to his 
diocess ; that he had been negligent in executing the king's 
injunctions, and refused to confess his fault, or ask the 
king's pardon ; and that the rebellions raised in England 
might have been prevented, if he had in time set forth the 
king's authority." 

To this he answered, that " He was not required to do it 
by any order of council, but only in a private discourse :" 
hut witnesses being examined upon these particulars, the 
delegates proceeded to sentence a deprivation against him, 
notwithstanding his appeal to the king in person ; and he 
was remanded to the tower, where he continued till queen 
Mary discharged him. 



CHAPTER V 

The thirty-nine Articles Published. 

By this time the greater number of the bishops were 
sincere friends to toe reformation : it was, therefore, re- 
solved to proceed to a settlement of the doctrine of the 
church. Many persons thought that should have beeji done 
in the first place ; but Cranmer judged it better to proceed 
slowly in that matter : he thought the corruptions in the 
worship were to be first abolished ; " since, while they re- 
mained, the addresses to God were so defiled that all 
people were involved in unlawful compliances." He 
thought speculative opinions might be reformed last, since 
errors in them were not of such ill consequence : and he 
judged it necessary to explain these in many treatises and 



352 FOx's BOOK OP MARTYRS. 

disputes, before alterations were made, in order that eveij 
one might be acquainted with what was intended to be 
done. Accordingly the bishops and clergy framed a body 
of articles, which contained the doctrine of the church of 
England : they divided them into forty-two, and afterward, 
some few alterations being made in the beginning of quee 
Elizabeth's reign, they were reduced to their present num 
ber, thirty-nine. 

The Common Prayer Book Revised. 

When this was settled, they commenced the review of 
the common prayer book. In the daily service they added 
the confession and absolution, " That so the worship of 
God might begin with a grave and humble confession ; after 
which a solemn declaration of the mercy of God, accord- 
ing to the terms of the gospel," was to be pronounced by 
the priest. This was thought much better than the giving 
absolution in such formal words as, " I absolve thee ;" 
which raised, in superficial worshippers, an opinion that 
the priest had authority to pardon sin, and made them think 
of nothing so much as how to purchase it at his hands. In 
the communion service they ordered a recital of the com- 
mandments, with a short devotion between every one of 
them. The chrism, the use of the cross in consecrating 
the eucharist, prayers for the dead, and some expressions 
that favoured transubstantiation, were rejected, and the 
book was put in the same order and method as that ii 
which it continues to this day, with the exception of some 
inconsiderable variations. A rubric was added to the office 
of the communion, explaining the reason of kneeling in it, 
that it was only as an expression of reverence and gratitude, 
upon the receiving so particular a mark of the favour of 
God : but that no adoration was intended by it, and that 
they did not think Christ was corporeally present in it. 
In queen Elizabeth's time this was omitted, that such as 
conformed in other things, but still retained the belief of 
the corporeal presence, might not be offended at such a 
declaration : it was again inserted on the restoration of 
Charles II., for removing the scruples of those who excepted 
to that posture. 

><this time six of the most eminent preachers were 



fox's rook of martyrs. 353 

appointed to reside at court by turns, two at a time, and 
ihe other four were sent, as intinorant preachers, into all 
the counties of England, for supplying the defects of the 
clergy, who were generally very weak and faulty. 

Fall and death of the Duke of Somerset. 

About this time the earl of Warwick, to strengthen hi* 
party against Somerset, prevailed on the king to confer 
new titles on several noblemen, and to raise some common- 
ers to the peerage. He was himself created duke of 
Northumberland ; the marquis of Dorset was made duke 
of Suffolk ; Pauiet, marquis of Winchester ; Herbert, ea/1 
of Pembroke ; Russel, earl of Bedford ; and Darcy, lord 
Darcy. An apparent reconciliation had taken place be- 
tween Somerset and Northumberland ; but each distrust- 
ed the other, and was prepared to seize the first opportu- 
nity of crushing his rival. Northumberland's superior skill 
gave him the advantage ; and upon information of a pre- 
tended plot to assassinate him and some of his friends, the 
duke and dutchess of Somerset, with several other persons, 
were committed to the Tower. On the first of December, 
1551, the duke was brought to his trial: the marquis of 
Winchester presided, and twenty-seven peers sat as judges, 
among whom were the dukes of Suffolk and Northum- 
berland, and the earl of Pembroke. He was charged with 
a design to seize on the king's person, to assassinate North- 
umberland, to take possession of the tower and city of 
London, and to destroy the king's guards. It seemed a 
gross dereliction of justice for Northumberland to sit as a 
judge, when the crime objected was a design against his 
life ; but hatred of his rival carried him beyond the bounds 
of decency. Somerset, in his defence, denied all designs 
to raise the people, or to kill Northumberland ; " or if he 
had talked of it, it was in a passion, without any intention 
of doing so : and it was ridiculous to think, that he with a 
small troop could destroy the guards, who were 900 strong. 
The few armed men he had about him, were only for his 
own defence ; he had done no mischief to his enemies, 
though it was once in his power to have done it; and had 
surrendered himself without any resistance. He desired 
the witnesses might, be brought face to face with him ; but 

30* 



8§4 fox*s ^ook of MAfttlrfci. 

vhis common act of justice was denied, and their depositions 
were only read. During the trial, he behaved with great 
temper, and all the abuse which the king's counsel made 
nse of in pleading against him, did not provoke him to any 
»ndecent passion. 

When sentence was given, his courage sunk a little, and 
he begged pardon of the three lords, who were his enemies, 
and entreated them to solicit the king in his favour, or at 
least to protect his wife and children. But instead of in- 
terceding for him, Northumberland determined to free him- 
self from all further fear, by the sacrifice of his ancient 
rival, and accordingly employed his emissaries to prejudice 
the king against his uncle, by pretending that, while in the 
tower, he had confessed a design to employ some persons 
to assassinate Northumberland, Northampton, and Pem- 
broke. This being believed by the king, he gave him up 
to his eremies 

Stanhope, Partridge, Arundel, and Vane, the duke's 
friends and pretended accomplices, were next tried : the 
two first were not much pitied, for they had made an ill 
use of their interest with the duke while in power : the 
ast two were much lamented. They were all condemned ; 
Partridge and Vane were hanged, the other two were 
beheaded. 

Six weeks after his trial, the unfortunate duke was 
brought to the scaffold, and as Mr. Fox, the author of this 
work, was present at his execution, we shall give his 
account of it in his own words. 

" In the year of our Lord 1552, the two and twentieth 
of January, the duke of Somerset, uncle to king Edward, 
was brought out of the tower of London, and according to 
the manner delivered to the sheriffs of the city, and com- 
passed about with a great number of armed men, both of 
the guard and others. He was brought unto the scaffold 
on Tower-hill, where he, nothing changing either voice or 
countenance, but in a manner with the same gesture 
which he commonly used at home, kneeling upon both 
his knees, and lifting up his hands, commended himself 
unto God. 

" After he had ended a few short prayers, standing ut. 
again, and turning himself toward the east side of the scaf- 
fold, nothing at all abashed (as it seemed to me, standing 



POX'S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 355 

about the midst of the scaffold, and diligently marking all 
things) either with the sight of the axe, or yet of the execu- 
tioner, or of present death ; but with the same alacrity and 
cheerfulness of mind and countenance as he was accustomed 
to show when he heard the causes and supplication of others, 
and especially the poor, (toward whom, as it were with a 
certain fatherly love to his children, he always showed 
himself most attentive) he uttered these words to the 
people : 

" ' Dearly beloved friends, I am brought hither to suffer 
death, albeit that I never offended against the king, neither 
by word nor deed, and have been always as faithful and 
true unto this realm as any man. But forasmuch as I am 
by a law condemned to die, I do acknowledge myself as 
well as others to be subject thereunto. Wherefore, to 
testify my obedience which I owe unto the laws, I am 
come hither to suffer death ; whereunto I willingly offer 
myself, with most hearty thanks unto God, that hath given 
me this time of repentance, who might, through sudden 
death, have taken away my life, that neither I should have 
acknowledged him nor myself. 

" • Moreover, dearly beloved friends, there is yet some- 
what that I must put you in mind of, as touching Christian 
religion ; which so long as I was in authority, I always 
diligently set forth and furthered to my power. Neither 
do I repent me of my doings, but rejoice therein, sith that 
now the state of Christian religion cometh most near unto 
the form and order of the primitive church. Which thing 
I esteem as a great benefit given of God both unto you 
and me ; most heartily exhorting you all, that this, 
which is most purely set forth unto you, you will with like 
thankfulness accept and embrace, and set out the same in 
your living. Which thing if you do not, without doubt 
greater mischief and calamity will follow.' 

" When he had spoken these words, there was suddenly 
a terrible noise heard ; whereupon there came a great fear 
upon all men. This noise was as it had been the noise of 
some great storm or tempest, which to some seemed to be 
from above ; as if a great deal of gunpowder being in- 
closed in an armoury, and having caught fire, had violently 
broken out. But unto some it seemed as though it had 
been a great multitude of horsemen running together, 01 



856 fox's book op martyrs. 

coming upon them. Such a noise then was in the ears o< 
all, although they saw nothing. Whereby it happened tha 
all the people being amazed without any evident cause 
they ran away, some into the ditches and puddles, and 
some into the houses thereabout ; others fell down grovel 
ing unto the ground, with their pollaxes and halberds ; and 
most of them cried out, l Jesus save us ! Jesus save us ! 
Those who remained in their places, for fear knew no* 
where they were ; and I myself, who was there among the 
rest, being also afraid in this hurly burly, stood still 
amazed. It happened here, as the evangelist wrote of 
Christ, when as the officers of the high priests and phari- 
sees, coming with weapons to take him, being astonished, 
ran backwards and fell to the ground. 

"In the meantime, while these things were thus in 
doing, the people by chance espied one sir Anthony Brown 
riding under the scaffold ; which was the occasion of a 
new noise. For when they saw him coming, they con- 
jectured that which was not true, but which they all sin- 
cerely wished for, that the king by that messenger had sent 
his uncle pardon: and therefore with great rejoicing and 
casting up their caps, they cried out, ' Pardon, pardon is 
come ! God save the king.' Thus this good duke, although 
he was destitute of all men's help, yet he saw, before his 
departure, in how great love and favour he was with all 
men. And truly I do not think that in so great a slaughter 
of dukes as hath been in England within these few years, 
there were so many weeping eyes at one time ; and not 
without cause. For all men saw in his fall the public 
ruin of England, except such as indeed did perceive 
nothing. 

" But to return from whence we have strayed ; the duke 
in the meantime standing still in the same place, modestly 
and with a grave countenance made a sign to the people 
with his hand, that they would keep themselves quiet. 
Which done and silence obtained, he spake unto them in 
this manner 

" ' Dearly beloved friends, there is no such matter here 
in hand as you vainly hope or believe. It seemeth thu:* 
good unto Almighty God, whose ordinance it is meet and 
necessary that we all be obedient unto. Wherefore I pray 
you all to be quiet, and to be contented with my death. 



fox's book of martyrs. 357 

which I am most willing to suffer ; and let us now join in 
prayer unto the Lord for the preservation of the king's 
majesty, unto whom, hitherto, I have always showed my- 
self a most faithful and true subject. I have always been 
most diligent about his majesty in his affairs both at home 
and abroad, and no less diligent in seeking the common 
good of the whole realm.' At which words all the people 
cried out, * It is most true.' 

" Then the duke proceeding, said, ' Unto whose majesty 
I wish continual health, with all felicity, and all prosperous 
success.' Whoreunto the people again cried out 'Amen. 1 

" 'Moreover, I do wish unto all his counsellors the grace 
and favour of God, whereby they may rule in all things 
uprightly with justice. Unto whom I exhort you all in the 
Lord to show yourselves obedient, as it is your bounden 
duty, under the pain of condemnation, and also most pro- 
fitable for the preservation and safeguard of the king's 
majesty. 

" ' Moreover, as heretofore I have had often times af- 
fairs with divers men, and hard it is to please every man, 
therefore if there be any who hath been offended and in- 
jured by me, I most humbly require and ask him forgive- 
ness ; but especially Almighty God, whom throughout all 
my life I have most grievously offended : and all other 
whatsoever they be that have offended me, I do with m} 
whole heart forgive them. Now I once again require you, 
dearly beloved in the Lord, that you will keep yourselves 
quiet and still, lest through your tumult you might trouble 
me. For albeit the spirit be willing and ready, the flesh 
is frail and wavering, and through your quietness I shall 
be much more composed. Moreover, I desire you all to 
hear me witness that I die here in the faith of Jesus Christ; 
desiring you to help me with your prayers, that I may per- 
severe constantly in the same unto my end.' 

"After this, turning himself again, he kneeled down. 
Then Dr. Cox, who was present to counsel and advise him, 
delivered a certain scroll into his hand, wherein was con- 
tained a brief confession unto God. Which being read, 
he stood up again upon his feet, without any trouble of 
mind, as it appeared, and first bade the sheriffs farewell, 
then the lieutenant of the tower, and others, taking them 
all by the hands which were upon the scaffold with him. 



358 fox's book op martyrs. 

Then he gave money to the executioner ; which done 
he put off his gown, and kneeling down again in the 
straw, untied his shirt-strings. After that, the execu- 
tioner coming to him turned down his collar about his 
neck, and all other things which hindered him. Then 
lifting up his eyes to heaven, and covering his face 
with his own handkerchief, he laid himself down along, 
showing no trouble or fear, neither did his countenance 
change. 

" Thus this meek and gentle duke lying along, and look- 
ing for the stroke, b3cause his doublet covered his neck, 
he was commanded to rise up and put it off; and then 
laying himself down again upon the block, and calling 
thrice upon the name of Jesus, saying, ' Lord Jesus, save 
me,' as he was the third time repeating the same, even as 
the name of Jesus was in uttering, in a moment he was 
bereft both of head and life, and slept in the Lord ; being 
taken away from all dangers and evils of this life, and rest- 
ing now in the peace of God ; in the preferment of whose 
truth and gospel he always showed himself an excellent 
instrument and member and therefore hath received the 
reward of his labours." 

Somerset was a man of extraordinary virtues, great can- 
dour, and eminent piety : he was always a promoter of jus- 
tice, and a patron of the oppressed. He was a better 
soldier than a statesman, being too easy and open hearted 
for his situation. The people saw that the conspiracy, for 
which he and the other four suffered, was merely a pretence 
for their murder: the other accomplices were soon dis- 
charged, and Palmer, the chief witness, became Northum- 
berland's particular confidant. The whole affair was looked 
on as a contrivance of the latter, by which he entirely lost 
the affections of the people. The chief objection to So- 
merset was, his having raised much of his estate out of the 
spoils of church lands, and his palace of Somerset-house 
in the Strand, out of the ruins of some churches and 
bishop's palaces. 

The day after the duke of Somerset's execution, par- 
liament assembled. The first act they passed was the 
established common prayer book, as it was then amended. 
Another law was passed, by wjjich it was enacted that 
" No days were to be esteemed holy in their own nature 



fox's book of martyrs. 359 

ut by reason of those holy duties which ought to be done 
in them, for which they were dedicated to the service of 
God. Days were esteemed to be dedicated only to the 
honour of God, even those in which the saints were com- 
memorated ; Sundays, and the other holydays, were to be 
re.igiously observed, and the bishops were to proceed to 
censures against offenders. The eves before them were 
to be fasts, and abstinence from flesh was ordered both in 
Lent, and on every Friday and Saturday." An act like- 
wise passed for the marriage of the clergy, in which it 
was stated, "That, whereas, the former act about it was 
thought only a permission of it, as some other unlawful 
things were connived at ; upon which the wives and children 
of the clergy were reproachfully used, and the word of 
God was not heard with due reverence ; therefore their 
marriages were declared good and valid." The bishopric 
of Westminister was reunited to London, only the colle- 
giate church was still continued. 

The convocation now confirmed the articles of religion 
which had been prepared the former year, and thus was 
the reformation of worship and doctrine brought to such a 
degree of perfection, that since that time there has been 
very little alteration made. Another branch of it was still 
unfinished, but was now under consultation, touching the 
government of the church and the ecclesiastical courts. 
This matter had been attempted several times during the 
last and present reigns ; but the changes in the govern- 
ment had caused it to be laid aside. It wa? now revived, 
and eight eminent bishops, and others, were appointed to 
draw up a plan, which was afterward to be submitted to 
thirty-two commissioners. It was generally believed that 
Cranmer drew it entirely by himself, while the others only 
corrected what he designed. Haddon and Cheek trans- 
lated it into Latin ; which they did with great ability. The 
work was divided into fifty-one titles ; and being laid be- 
fore the commissioners, was by them to have been pre- 
sented to the king for his confirmation ; but he died before 
it was quite finished, nor was it ever afterward resumed. 

About this time the dilapidated state of the church re- 
venues engaged the attention of the council, but so mdr^ 
>ersons of power and influence were interested to prevent 
i reniedy being afforded, that the affair was dropped lr> 



360 fox's book of martyrs. 

every see as it became vacant, the best manors were laid 
hold of by such hungry courtiers as could procure the 
grant of them. They seemed to think, that the b'shops' 
sees were so rich that they could never be made poor 
enough ; but they were soon reduced to so low a condition 
that it was hardly possible for a bishop to subsist in them. 
If what had been thus taken from them had been converted 
to good uses, such as the maintenance of the poor and in 
ferior clergy, it would have been some excuse for the vio- 
lence ; but the lands were laid hold of by laymen, who 
made no compensation for the spoils thus gained by them. 

The King's Sickness, 

We now draw to the conclusion of the reign of this 
youthful king; who, while he was a child in age, was a man 
in wisdom. 

He had contracted great colds by violent exercises, 
which in January settled into so obstinate a cough, that all 
the skill of physicians and the aid of medicine proved 
ineffectual There was a suspicion over all Europe that 
he was poisoned : but no certain grounds appear for justi 
fying it. 

During his sickness, Ridley preached before him, and 
among other things spoke much on works of charity, and 
the duty of men of high condition, to be eminent in good 
works. The king was much touched with this : and aftei 
the sermon, fie sent for the bishop, and treated him with 
such respect, that he made him sit down and be covered : 
he then told him what impression his exhortation had 
made on him, and therefore he desired to be directed by 
him how to do his duty in that matter. 

Ridley took a little time to consider of it, and after 
some consultation with the lord mayor and aldermen of 
London, he braught the king a scheme of several founda- 
tions ; one for the sick and wounded, another for such as 
were wilfully idle or were mad, and a third for orphans. 
Edward, acting on this suggestion, endowed St. Bartholo- 
mew's hospital for the first, Bridewell for the second, and 
Christ's hospital, near Newgate, for the third ; and he en- 
larged the grant which he had made the year before, for 
St Thomas' hospital, in Southwark. The statutes and 



361 

warrants re ating to these were not finished till the 26th 
of June, though he gave orders to make all the haste that 
was possible : and when he set his hand to them he blessed 
God for having prolonged his life till he had finished his 
designs concerning them. These houses have, by the. 
good government and the g"eat charities of the city of 
London, continued to be so useful, and grown to be so 
well endowed, that now they may be reckoned among the 
noblest in Europe. 

The king bore his sickness with great submission to the 
will of God ; and seemed concerned in nothing so much 
as the state that religion and the church would be in after 
his death. The duke of Northumberland, who was at the 
head of affairs, resolved to improve the fears the king was 
in concerning religion, to the advantage of lady Jane 
Grey, who was married to his son, lord Guilford Dudley. 
Edward was easily persuaded by him to order the judges 
to put some articles, which he had signed, for the succes 
sion of the crown, in the common form of law. They an- 
swered, that the succession being settled by act of parlia- 
ment, could not be taken away, except by parliament : 
yet the king persisted in his orders. 

The judges then declared before the council, that it had 
been made treason by an act passed in this reign, to 
change the succession ; so that they could not meddle with 
it. Montague was chief justice, and spake in the name 
of the rest. 

On this, Northumberland fell into a violent passion, 
calling him traitor, for refusing to obey the king's com- 
mands. But the judges were not moved by his threats ; 
and they were again brought before the king, who sharply 

ehuked them for their delays. They replied that all they 
could do would be of no force without a parliament : yet 

hey were required to perform it in the best manner they 
could. 
.At last Montague desired they might first have a pardo 

or what they were to do, which being granted, all the 
judges, except Cosnald and Hales, agreed to the patent, 
and delivered their opinions, that the lord chancellor might 
put the seal to the articles, drawn up by the king, and that 
then they would be good in law. Cosnald was at last pre- 
vailed on to join in the same opinion, so that Hales, who 

31 



was a zealous protestant, was the only man who stood out 
to the last. 

The privy councillors were next required to sign the 
paper. Cecil, in a relation he wrote of this transaction, 
says, that " Hearing some of the judges declare so positively 
that it was against law, he refused to set his hand to i». 
as a privy councillor, but signed it only as a witness to the 
king's subscription." 

Cranmer came not to the council when it was passed 
there, and refused to consent to it, when he was pressed 
to it ; saying, " He would never have a hand in disinheriting 
his late master's daughters." The dying king at last by 
his importunity prevailed with him to do it ; upon which 
the great seal was put to the patents. 

The king's distemper continued to increase, so that the 
physicians despaired of his recovery. A confident woman 
undertook his cure, and he was put into her hands, but she 
left him worse than she found him ; and this heightened 
the jealousy against the duke of Northumberland, who had 
introduced her, and dismissed the physicians. At last, to 
crown his designs, he got the king to write to his sisters to 
come and divert him in his sickness: and the exclusion 
had been conducted so secretly, that they, apprehending 
no danger, began their journey. 

On the 6th of July the king felt the approach of death, 
and prepared himself for it in a most devout manner. He 
was often heard offering up prayers and ejaculations to 
God : particularly, a few moments before he died, he prayed 
earnestly that the Lord would take him out of this wretched 
life, and committed his spirit to him ; he interceded very 
fervently for his subjects, that God would preserve England 
from popery, and maintain his true religion among them. 
The last words he uttered were these, " I am faint ; Lord 
have mercy upon me, and take my spirit." Soon after 
that he breathed out his innocent soul in sir Henry Sid 
nev's arms. 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



3G3 



PART VI. 



Reign of Queen Mary, Subversion of the Protestant 
Religion, and awful Persecutions by the Papists 



chapter I. 
Accession of Queen Mary to the Throne. 



Ore 




Female Recanting Pe 
taut. 



We now call the attention of the British protest-ants to a 
period of their church history that cannot fait to awaken 
in their hearts that love for their ancestors, which at pre- 
sent, we fear, lies dormant in too many. A long career of 
ease appears to have obliterated from their minds the trou 
bles .of their generous forefathers, who, for them, bled ia 
every vein — for them, were consigned to the devouring 
flames in every part of their country ; preparing and esta- 
blishing for their descendants, by the sacrifice oi' them- 
selves, political and religious liberty. And, while we be- 
hold, with gratitude and admiration, the effects d' their 
noble self-devotion, let us thence learn to appreciate thc^e 



364 fox's book of martyrs. 

blessings which, by the continued providence of God, we 
have so long enjoyed ; and let us be confirmed more and 
more in our determination to resist every attempt, whether 
6y open force or secret fraud, to deprive us and our de- 
scendants of the privileges so dearly purchased. 

It has been asserted by the Roman catholics, u That all 
those who suffered death, during the reign of queen Mary, 
had been adjudged guilty of high treason, in consequence 
of their rising in defence of lady Jane Grey's title to the 
crown." To disprove this, however, is no difficult matter, 
since every one conversant in English history, must know 
that those who are found guilty of high treason are to be 
hanged and quartered. But how can even a papist affirm, that 
ever a man in England was burned for high treason 1 ? We 
admit, that some few suffered death in the ordinary way 
of process at common law, for their adherence to lady 
l?ne; but none of those were burned. Why, if traitors, 
were they taken before bishops, who have no power to 
judge in criminal cases] Even allowing the bishops to 
have had power to judge, yet their own bloody statute did 
not empower them to execute. The proceedings against 
the martyrs are still extant, and they are carried on directly 
according to the forms prescribed by their own statute. 
Not one of those who were burned in England, was ever 
accused of high treason, much less were they tried at com- 
mon law. And this should teach the reader to value a 
history of transactions in his own country, particularly as 
«t relates to the sufferings of the blessed martyrs in defence 
of the religion lie professes, in order that he may be able 
to remove the veil which falsehood has cast over the face 
oi' truth. Having said thus much, by way of introduction, 
we shall proceed with the Acts and Monuments of the 
British Martyrs. 

By the death of king Edward, the crown devolved, ac- 
cording to law, on his eldest sister Mary, who was withic 
« half a days journey to the court, when she had notice 
given her by the earl of Arundel, of her brother's death, and 
of the patent for lady Jane's succession. Upon this she 
retired to Framlingham, in Suffolk, to be near the sea, thai 
she might escape to Flanders, in case of necessity. Be- 
fore she arrived the^e, she w\ote, on the 9th of July, to the 
council, tellmg t ] *em, that " She understood, that her 



fox's book of martyrs. 



365 



brother was dead, by which she succeeded to the crown, 
but wondered that she heard not from them; she well un- 
derstood what consultations they had engaged in, but she 
would pardon all such as would return to their duty, and 
proclaim her title to the crown." 




Lady Jane Grey. 

It was now found, that the king's death could be no 
longer kept a secret ; accordingly some of the privy coun- 
cil went to lady Jane, and acknowledged her as their 
queen.* The news of the king's death afflicted her much, 
and her being raised to the throne, rather increased than 
lessened her trouble. She was a person of extraordinary 
abilities, acquirements, and virtues. She was mistress 
both of the Greek and Latin tongues, and delighted much 
in study. As she was not tainted with the levities which 
usually accompany her age and station, so she seemed to 
have attained to the practice of the highest fortitude ; foi 
in those sudden turns of her condition, as she was not ex- 
alted . with the prospect of a crown, so she was little 
cast down when her palace was made her prison. The 
only passion she showed, was that of the noblest kind, in 



* The lady Jane was daughter to the duke of Suffolk, and grand-daughtei 
to Mary, sister to Henry VIII., who, on the death of her first husband, tha 
king of France, married Charles Brandon, afterward created duke of 
Suffolk. 

31* 



866 fOX's BOOk 0£ MARtYRS. 

the concern she expressed for her father and husband, whc 
fell with her, and seemingly on her account ; though, in 
reality, Northumberland's ambition arid her father's weak- 
ness ruined her. 

She rejected the crown when it was first offered her ; 
she said she knew of right it belonged to the late king's 
sisters, and therefore could not with a good conscience 
assume it ; but she was told, that both the judges and privy 
council ors had declared, that it fell to her according to 
law. This, joined with the importunities of her husband, 
her father, and father-in-law, made her submit. Upon 
this, twenty-one privy counsellors set their hands to a letter 
to Mary, telling her that queen Jane was now their sove- 
reign, and that as the marriage between her father and 
mother had been declared null, so she could not succeed 
to. the crown ; they therefore required her to lay down her 
pretensions, and to submit to the settlement now made ; 
and if she gave a ready obedience promised her much 
favour. The day after this they proclaimed Jane. 

Northumberland's known enmity to the late duke of 
Somerset, and the suspicions of his being the author of 
Edward's untimely death, begot a great aversion in the peo- 
ple to him and his family, and disposed them to favour 
Mary ; who, in the meantime, was very active in raising 
forces to support her claim. To attach the protestants to 
her cause, she promised not to make any change in the 
reformed worship, as established under her brother ; and 
on this assurance a large body of the men of Suffolk joined 
her standard. 

Northumberland was now perplexed between his wish 
to assume the command of an army raised to oppose Mary 
and his fear of leaving London to the government of the 
council, of whose fidelity he entertained great doubts. 
He was, however, at length obliged to adopt the latter 
course, and before his departure from the metropolis he 
adjured the members of the council, and all persons in au- 
thority, to be steadfast in their attachment to the cause of 
queen Jane, on whose success, he assured them, depended 
the continuance of the protestant religion in England 
They promised all he required, and he departed encou- 
raged by their protestations and apparent zeal. 

Mary's party in the meantime continued daily to aug- 



POt } » BOOR OF MAttfYftS. 367 

ment- Hastings went over to her with 4000 men out of 
Buckinghamshire, and she was proclaimed queen in many 
places. At length the privy council began to see their dan- 
ger, and to think how to avoid it : and beside fears for 
their personal safety, other motives operated with many of 
the members. To make their escape from the tower, 
where they were detained, ostensibly to give dignity to the 
court of queen Jane, but really as prisoners, they pre- 
tended it was necessary to give an audience to the foreign 
ambassadors, who would not meet them in the tower; 
and the earl of Pembroke's house was appointed for the 
audience. 

When they met there they resolved to declare for queen 
Mary, and rid themselves of Northumberland's yoke, which 
they knew they must bear, if he were victorious. They 
sent for the lord mayor and alderman, and easily gained 
their concurrence ; and Mary was proclaimed queen on the 
19th of July. They then sent to the Tower, requiring 
the duke of Suffolk to quit the government of that place, 
and the lady Jane to lay down the title of queen. To this 
she submitted with much greatness of mind, and her father 
with abjectness. 

TIig council next sent orders to Northumberland to dis- 
miss his forces, and to obey the queen. When Northum- 
berland heard this he disbanded his forces, went to the 
marAet place at Cambridge, where he then was, and pro- 
claimed Mary as queen. The earl of Arundel was sent to 
apprehend him, and when Northumberland was brought 
before him, he, in the most servile manner, fell at his 
feet to beg his favour. He, with three of his sons and sir 
Thomas Palmer, his wicked tool in the destruction of the 
duke of Somerset, were all sent to the tower. 

Every one now flocked to implore the queen's favour, 
and Ridley among the rest, but he was committed to the 
tower; the queen being resolved to put Bonner again in 
the see of London. Some of the judges, and several no- 
blemen, were also sent thither, among the rest the duke of 
Suffolk ; who was, however, three days after set at liberty. 
He was a weak man, could do little harm, and was conse- 
quently selected as the first person toward whom the queen 
should exert her clemency. 

Mary came to London on the 3d of August, and on the 



368 fox's book of martyrs. 

way was met by her sister, lady Elizabeth, with a thousand 
horse, whom she had raised to assist the queen. On arri- 
ving at the Tower, she liberated the duke of Norfolk, the 
dutchess of Somerset, and Gardiner ; also the lord Court- 
ney, son to the marquis of Exeter, who had been kept 
there ever since his father's attainder, and whom she now 
made earl of Devonshire. 

Thus was seated on the throne of England the lady 
Mary, who, to a disagreeable person and weak mind, uni 
ted bigotry, superstition, and cruelty. She seems to hav 
inherited more of her mother's than her father's qualities. 
Henry was impatient, rough, and ungovernable ; but 
Catharine, while she assumed the character of a saint, har- 
boured inexorable rancour and hatred against the protest- 
ants. It was the same with her daughter Mary, as appears 
from a letter in her own hand-writing, now in the British 
Musuem. In this letter, which is addressed to bishop 
Gardiner, she declares her fixed intention of burning every 
protestant; and there is an insinuation, that as soon as cir- 
cumstances would permit, she would restore back to the 
church the lands that had been taken from the convents. 
This was the greatest instance of her weakness that she 
could show: for in the first place the convents had bejgn all 
demolished, except a few of their churches; and the rents 
were in the hands of the first nobility, who, rather than part 
with them, would have overturned the government both in 
church and state. 

Mary was crowned at Westminister in the usual form ; 
but dreadful were the consequences that followed. The 
narrowness of spirit that always distinguishes a weak mind 
from one that has been enlarged by education, pervaded 
all the actions of this princess. Unacquainted with the 
constitution of the country, and a slave to superstition, she 
thought to domineer over the rights of private judgment, 
and trample on the privileges of mankind. 

The first exertion of her regal power was, to wreak her 
vengeance upon all those who had supported the title of 
lady T ane Grey. 

Tm, first of these was the duke of Northumberland, who 
was beheaded on Tower-hill, and who, in consequence of 
nis crimes, arising from ambition, died unpitied : nay, he 
was even taunted on the scaffold by the spectators, who 



pox's book of martyrs. 369 

knew in what manner he had acted to the good duke of 
Somerset. 

The other executions that followed were numerous in- 
deed, but as they were all upon the statute of high treason, 
they cannot, with any degree of propriety, be applied to 
protestants, or, as they were then called, heretics. The 
parliament was pliant enough to comply with all the 
queen's requests, and an act passed to establish the popish 
religion. This u as what the queen waited for, and power 
being now put into her hands, she was determined to exer- 
cise it in the most arbitrary manner. She was destitute 
of human compassion, and without the least reluctance 
could tyrannise over the consciences of men. 

This leads us to the conclusion of the first year of her 
reign ; and we consider it the more necessary to take 
notice of these transactions, although not, strictly speaking, 
martyrdoms, that our readers might be convinced of the 
great difference there is between dying for religion, and for 
high treason. It is history alone that can teach them such 
things, and it is reflection only that can make history use- 
ful. We frequently read without reflection, and study 
without consideration ; but the following portions of our 
history, in particular, will furnish ample materials for 
serious thought to our readers, and we entreat their atten- 
tion to them. 

Martyrdoms in the Second year of Queen Mary's Reign. 

The queen having satiated her malice upon those per- 
sons who had adhered to lady Jane Grey, she had next 
recourse to those old auxiliaries of popery, fire, fagot, and 
the stake, in order to convert her heretical subjects to the 
rue catholic faith. 

Martyrdom of the Rev. John Rogers, 

Mr. John Rogers, the aged minister of St. Sepulchre's 
church, Snow hill, London, was the protomartyr : he 
was the first sacrifice, strictly speaking, offered up in this 
reign to popery, and led the way for those sufferers, whose 
blood has been the foundation, honour, and glory of the 
church of England. 



370 pox's book of martyks. 

This Mr. Rogers had been some time chaplain to the 
English factory at Antwerp. There he became acquainted 
with Mr. Tindal, and assisted him in his translation of the 
New Testament. There were several other worthy pro- 
testants there at that time, most of whom had been driven 
out of England, on account of the persecutions for the six 
articles, in the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. Mr. 
Rogers, knowing that marriage was lawful, and even en- 
joined in scripture, entered into that state with a virtuous 
woman, and soon after set out for Saxony, in consequence 
of an invitation to that effect. 

When Edward ascended the throne of England, Mr. 
Rogers returned to his native country, and was promoted 
by bishop Ridley to a prebendary of St. Paul's. He was 
also appointed reader of the divinity lecture in that cathe- 
dral, and vicar of St. Sepulchre's. 

In this situation he continued some years : and as 
queen Mary was returning from the tower, where she had 
been imbibing Gardiner's pernicious counsels, Mr. Rogers 
was preaching at St. Paul's Cross. He inveighed much 
against popery, expatiated on the many virtues of the late 
king Edward, and exhorted the people to abide in the pro- 
testant religion. 

For this sermon he was summoned before the council ; 
but he vindicated himself so well, that he was dismissed. 

This lenity shown by the council was rather displeasing 
to the queen ; and Mr. Roger's zeal against popery being 
equal to his knowledge and integrity, he was considered 
as a person who would prevent the re-establishment of 
popery. 

For this reason it was, that he was summoned a second 
time before the council ; and although there were many 
papists among the members, yet such was the respect al- 
most universally felt for Mr. Rogers, that he was again dis- 
missed, but was commanded not to go out of his own 
house. This order he complied with, although he might 
have made his escape if he would. He knew he could 
have had a living in Germany, and he had a wife and t^n 
children : but all these things did not move him ; he did 
not court death, but met it with fortitude when it came. 

He remained confined in his own house several weeks, 
till Bonner, bishop of London, procured an oraer to have 



fox's book op martyrs. 371 

him committed to Newgate, where he was lodged among 
thieves and murderers. 

He was afterward brought a third time before the coun- 
cil, where Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, presided. It 
was not with any view of showing lenity to the prisoner ; 
it was not with a view of convincing him of error, sup- 
posing him to be guilty of any ; it was not to recall him 
to the Romish Church that he was brought there : no, his 
destruction was designed, and he was singled out to be an 
example to all those who should refuse to comply with 
Romish idolatry. 

The questions asked him were of a very frivolous nature 
but still they were such, that answers to them served to 
criminate the man. It is a maxim in common law, that 
no man is to be his own accuser ; by which is meant, that 
he is not to answer any questions which may bring the guilt 
home to him, unless at his option, leaving his enemies to 
prove the assertions. 

On the other hand, it is laid down as a maxim by divines, 
and certainly it is a good one, that no man should tell a 
falsehood. Christ said, " He that denies me before men, 
him will I also deny before my father, who is in heaven. 19 
We know the weakness of human nature, but we ought to 
be much upon our guard against speaking any thing that 
is false. This shows us to be cowards : let us, like Christ 
Jesus, witness a true confession ; let us not shrink back at 
the thought of suffering for the truth, as it is in Jesus ; but 
let us remember that the pleasures of sins are momentary ; 
the punishment of them eternal. 

Such sentiments as these took place in the mind of Mr. 
Rogers, when he was brought before the chancellor and 
council. He freely acknowledged, that he had been fully 
convinced, in his own mind, that the pope was Antichrist 
and tnat Lis religion was contrary to the gospel. 

He made a most elaborate defence, which, however, did 
not avail him in the minds of his persecutors. He showed 
them that the statute upon which he was prosecuted had 
never legally passed, and even if it had, it was in ail re- 
spects contrary to the word of God : for whatever emolu- 
ments might have been bestowed upon the clergy from 
time to time, they had no right to persecute those who dif- 
fered from them in sentiment. 



372 pox's book of martyrs. 

Aftei he had been examined several times before a 
council, which was a mere mockery of justice, he was 
turned over to Bonner, bishop of London, who caused him 
to go through a second mock examination ; and, at last, 
declared him to be an obstinate heretic. A certificate 
of this was, in the ordinary course, sent into chancery, 
and a writ was issued for the burning of Mr. Rogers in 
Smithfield. This sentence did not in the least frighten 
our martyr, who, by faith in the blood of Christ, was ready 
to go through with his attachment to the truth, without pay- 
ing any regard to the malice of his enemies. 

On the 4th of February, 1555, Mr. Rogers was taken 
out of Newgate, to be led to the place of execution, when 
the sheriff asked him if he would recant his opinions ? 
To this he answered, " That what he had preached he 
would seal with his blood." " Then," said the sheriff, 
" thou art a heretic." To which Mr. Rogers answered, 
" That will be known when we meet at the judgment seat 
of Christ." 

As they were taking him to Smithfield, his wife and 
eleven children went to take their last farewell of a tender 
husband and an indulgent parent. The sheriffs, however, 
would not permit them to speak to him ; so unfeeling is 
bigotry, so merciless is superstition ! When he was chained 
to the stake he declared that God would in his own good 
time vindicate the truth of what he had taught, and appear 
in favour of the protestant religion. Fire was then set to 
the pile, and he was consumed to ashes. 

He was a very pious and humane man, and his being 
singled out as the first victim of superstitious cruelty, can 
only entitle him to a higher crown of glory in heaven. 

Martyrdom of Laurence Saunders. 

The next person who suffered in this reign was the re- 
verend Mr. Laurence Saunders, of whose former life we 
have collected the following particulars : his father had a 
considerable estate in Oxfordshire, but dying young, left 
a large family of children. Laurence was sent to Eton 
school as one of the king's scholars. 

From Eton he was, according to the rules of the foun- 
dation, sent to King's college ii Cambridge, where he 



pox's book of martyrs. 373 

studied three years, and made great progress in the dif- 
ferent sorts of learning then taught in the schools. At 
the end of the three years he left the university, and re- 
turning to his mother, prevailed upon her to place him 
with a merchant. 

He was accordingly articled to sir William Chester, a 
rich merchant in London, who was afterward sheriff of that 
city. He had not been long in his employment, when he 
became weary of a life of trade. He sunk into a deep 
melancholy, and afterward went into a retired chamber, to 
mourn for his imprudence, and to beg of God that he 
would, in some manner or other, deliver him from a life so 
disgustful. 

His master, who was a worthy man, took notice of this, 
and asked Saunders his reasons for being in that despond- 
ing condition 1 The young gentleman candidly told him ; 
upon which he immediately gave him up his indentures, 
and sent him home to his relations. 

This Saunders considered as a happy event, and that no 
time might be lost, he returned to his studies at Cambridge ; 
and, what was very uncommon in that age, he learned the 
Greek and Hebrew languages. After this he devoted him- 
self wholly to the study of the sacred scriptures, in order 
to qualify himself for preaching the gospel. 

In study he was diligent, and practical in holiness of 
life : in doing good few equalled him, and he seemed to 
have nothing in view but the happiness of immortal souls. 

In the beginning of king Edward's reign, when the true 
religion began to be countenanced, he entered into orders, 
and preached with great success. His first appointment 
was at Fotheringhem, where he read a divinity lecture ; 
but that college having been dissolved, he was appointed a 
preacher in Lichfield. In that new station his conduct 
entitled him to great respect ; for such was his sweetness 
of temper, his knowledge in his profession, his eloquent 
manner of addressing his hearers, the purity of his man- 
ners, and his affectionate addresses to the heart, that he 
was universally respected, and his ministry was very 
useful. 

After being some months in Lichfield, he removed to 
the living of Church-Langton, in Leicestershire : there he 
esided with his people, and instructed many who before 
32 



374 pox's book of martyrs. 

were ignorant of the true principles of the Christian reli 
gion. He was the same to men's bodies as to their soms. 
All that he received, beside the small pittance that sup- 
ported his person, was given away to feed the hungry and 
clothe the naked. Here was the Christian minister indeed ! 
for no instructions will make a lasting impression on the 
mind, while the example is contrary. 

His next removal was to Allhallows, in Bread-street, 
London ; and when he had taken possession of it, he went 
down to the country, to part, in an affectionate manner, 
with his friends. 

While he was in the country king Edward died, and 
Mary succeeding, published a proclamation, commanding all 
her subjects to attend mass. Many pious ministers refu- 
sed to obey the royal proclamation, and none was more for- 
ward in doing so than Mr. Saunders. He continued to 
preach whenever he had an opportunity, and read the 
prayer-book, with the scriptures, to the people, till he was 
apprehended in the following manner: 

Mr. Saunders was advised to leave the nation, as pious 
Dr. Jewel and many others did ; but he would not, declar- 
ing to his friends, that he was willing to die for the name 
of the Lord Jesus. Accordingly, he left his people in 
Leicestershire, and travelled toward London, on his ar- 
rival near which, he was met by sir John Mordant, a privy 
counsellor to queen Mary, who asked him where he was 
going? Mr. Saunders said, to his living in Bread-street, to 
instruct bis people. Mordant desired him not to go : to 
which Mr. Saunders answered, " How shall I then be 
accountable to God 1 If any be sick and die before conso- 
lation, then what a load of guilt will be upon my con- 
science, as an unfaithful shepherd, an unjust steward V 9 

Mordant asked him whether he did not frequently preach 
in Bread-street ; and being answered in the affirmative, 
he endeavoured to dissuade him from doing so any more. 
Saunders, however, was resolute, and told him he would 
continue to preach as long as he lived, and invited the 
other to come and hear him the next day ; adding that he 
would confirm him in the truth of those sentiments which 
he taught. Upon this they parted, and Mordant weni and 
gave information to bishop Bonner, that Saunders would 
preach in his church the next Sunday. 



fox's book of martyrs. 375 

In the meantime Saunders went to his lodgings, with 
a mind resolved to do his duty ; when a person came to 
visit him, and took notice to him that he seemed to be in 
trouble. He said he was ; adding, " I am, as it were, in 
prison, till I speak to my people." So earnest was his 
desire to discharge his duty, and so little did he regard the 
malice of his enemies. 

The next Sunday he prearbid in his church, and made 
d most elaborate discourse against the errors of popery ; 
he exhorted the people to remain steadfast in the truth ; 
not to fear those who can only kill the body, but to fear 
Him wht' can throw both body and soul into hell He 
was ..uendedby a great concourse of people, which ^aH : 
much offence to the clergy, particular!; to bishop Banner. 

No notice, however, was taken of him in the forenoon, 
but in the afternoon, when he intended to have preached 
again, Bonner sent an officer to apprehend him ; accord- 
ingly, he went with the officer, and sir John Moidoot 
appeared to give evidence against him. It was certainly 
unbecoming the character of a gentleman of rank, thus to 
become a common informer ; but bigotry so infatuates the 
minds of its votaries, that they forget every other con- 
sideration in order to gratify their hatred against those 
who differ from them in opinion. Perhaps, however, sir 
John might be actuated by wordly motives ; and, by 
thus ingratiating himself with the bishop, who then en- 
joyed great power, he might hope to obtain the favour of 
the queen. 

Mr. Saunders was charged with treason and sedition, for 
having disobeyed the queen's proclamation ; but Bonner 
had other objects in view than that of bringing this man to 
a trial at common law. Heresy was the main charge he 
wished to punish him on. 

After much conversation on different points of religion, 
the bishop, desired him to write his sentiments concerning 
transubstantiation. To this request Mr. Saunders replied, 
" My lord, I know you want to ensnare me ; you seek for 
my blood, and you shall have it. Perhaps the reflection 
of taking my life without cause may bring you to a sense 
of guilt, and make you a better man." 

The bishop, on this, sent Mr. Saunders, under the car* 



376 

of sir John Mordant, to the house of the chancellor, who 
happened not to he at home ; so that he was obliged to 
wait for him four hours in the servants' hall. During the 
whole of this time, Mr. Saunders stood bareheaded, while 
Mordant kept walking backwards and forwards across the 
room. 

At length the chancellor arrived, and sending for Mr. 
Saunders into his chamber, asked him how he could be 
so bold as to disobey the queen's proclamation. Saunders 
acknowledged that " He had preached contrary to the 
proclamation, and that he thought it his duty to do so, 
even although it should cost him his life. He added, that 
what he did arose from the dictates of his heart, which 
commanded him to preach the gospel, in season and out oi 
season ; and that he must be accountable at the judgment 
seat of Christ, if he neglected any part of his duty in teach- 
ing and comforting his people in their most holy faith, so 
as to meet them on the right hand of the judge." 

The chancellor poured out much abuse on Mr. Saun 
ders, telling him he was a hypocrite and a heretic, not- 
withstanding all his pretensions to a tender conscience. 
He accused him, further of having called the queen a bas- 
tard, or rather worse, namely, that she had been born in a 
state of incest. 

It was well known that Henry's marriage with Catha- 
rine had been declared inconsistent with the canons of the 
church ; and, therefore, had Mr. Saunders called her by 
such names, he might, according to law, have sheltered him- 
self under an act of parliament. But the truth is he never 
traduced her character ; but in speaking to Gardiner he 
made use of a most severe sarcasm, by telling him that 
" there need not to be much dispute concerning this mat- 
ter with his lordship, who had actually signed the declara- 
tion concerning the illegitimacy of Mary's birth." This 
was bringing the argument home to him ; but the severity 
of the satire augmented Gardiner's desire of revenge. 

Saunders told the chancellor, " He had no objection to 
suffer for that God who had given him courage to declare 
his sentiments without fear, and would support him under 
all sorts of afflictions; and although he would never give 
mtentional offence, yet he would not, by any means, injure 



pox's book of martyrs. 377 

his conscience, by giving up the truth as it was revealed 
in the word of God." 

Gardiner upon this, remanded Mr. Saunders to prison ; 
but first told him he was out of his mind, and a disturbed 
madman, without the use of sense or reason 

He was confined in the Marshalsea prison, and strict 
orders were given to the keepers not to suffer any person 
to converse with him. His wife, however, came to the 
prison with her young child in her arms, and the keeper 
had so much compassion, that he took the child and car- 
ried it to its father. 

Mr. Saunders seeing the child, rejoiced greatly, saying, 
it was a peculiar happiness for him to have such a boy. 
And to the bystanders, who admired the beauty of the 
child, he said, " What man, fearing God, would not lose 
his life, sooner than have it said that the mother of this 
child was a harlot?" 

He said these words, in order to point out the woful 
effects of popish celibacy ; for the priests being denied the 
privilege of marriage, seduced the wives and daughters of 
many of the laity, and filled the nation with bastards, who 
were left exposed to all sorts of hardships. 

After all these afflictions and sufferings, Mr. Saunder9 
was brought before the council, where the chancellor sat as 
president; and there he was asked a great number of 
questions concerning his opinions. These questions were 
proposed in so artful and ensnaring a manner, that the pri- 
soner, by telling the truth, must criminate himself; and to 
have stood mute would have subjected him to the torture. 
Under such circumstances God gave him fortitude to 
assert the truth, by declaring his abhorrence of all the doc- 
trines of popery. 

The examination being ended, the officers led him out 
of the place, and then waited till some other prisoners 
were examined. While Mr. Saunders was standing among 
the officers, seeing a great number of people assembled, as 
is common on such occasions, he exhorted them to beware 
of falling off from Christ to Antichrist, as many were then 
returning to popery, because they had not fortitude to 
suffer. 

The chancellor ordered him to oe excommunicated, and 
committed him to the Compter. This was a great com- 
32* 



378 

fort to him, because he was visited by many of his people 
whom he exhorted to constancy ; and when they were 
denied admittance, he spoke to them through the grate. 

On the 4th of February the sheriff of London delivered 
him to the bishop, who degraded him ; and Mr. Saunders 
said, " Thank God, I am now out of your church." 

The day following he was given up to some of the 
queen's officers, who were appointed to convey him down 
to Coventry, there to be burned. The first night they 
lay at St. Albans, where Mr. Saunders took an oppor- 
tunity of rebuking a person who had ridiculed the Chris- 
tian faith. 

After they arrived at Coventry, a poor shoemaker, who 
had formerly worked for Mr. Saunders, came to him, and 
said, " Oh ! my good master, may God strengthen you." 
" Good shoemaker," answered Mr. Saunders, " I beg you 
will pray for me, for I am at present in a very weak con- 
dition ; but I hope my gracious God, who hath appointed 
me to it, will give me strength." 

The same night he spent in the common prison, praying 
for and exhorting all those who went to hear him. 

The next day, which was the 8th of February, he was 
led to the place of execution, in the Park, without the gate 
of that city, going in an old gown and a shirt, barefooted, 
and often fell on the ground and prayed. When he ap- 
proached the place of execution, the under-sheriff told him 
ne was a heretic, and that he had led the people away 
from the true religion ; but yet, if he would recant, the 
queen would pardon him. To this Mr. Saunders answered, 
" That he had not filled the realm with heresy, for he had 
taught the people the pure truths of the gospel ; and in all 
his sermons, while he exhorted the people firmly, desired 
his hearers to be obedient to the queen." 

When brought to the stake he embraced it, and after 
being fastened to it, and the fagots lighted, he said, 
" Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life ;" 
soon after which he resigned his soul into the hands of him 
who gave it. 



879 



CHAPTER II. 

Sufferings and Martyrdom of Bishop Hooper, 

We have seen in our account of the pious Mr. Saunders, 
that a man by nature weak and timorous, could bear, with 
an undaunted boldness, all those torments which were pre- 
pared for him by his enemies, and by the enemies of 
Christ Jesus ; and we have seen that gracious Being, for 
whose name's sake he suffered, supporting him under all 
his afflictions. 

We shall now bring forth another martyr, whose name 
will ever be esteemed for his sincere attachment to the 
protestant religion, and for the little regard he paid to 
ceremonies, about which there has been much unnecessary, 
and indeed angry contention. 

The person to whom we allude was Dr. John Hooper, 
a man of eminence in his profession. He was educated in 
Oxford, but in what college does not appear ; probably it 
was in Queen's college, because he was a north country- 
man, that seminary of learning being appropriated for 
those of the northern counties. 

He made a great progress in his studies, and was re- 
markable for early piety. He studied the sacred scriptures 
with the most unremitting assiduity, and was for some 
time an ornament to the university. 

His spirit was fervent, and he hated every thing in reli- 
gion that was not of an essential nature. When the six 
articles were published, Hooper did all he could to oppose 
them, as maintaining every thing in the popish s} T stem, 
xcept the supremacy. He preached frequently against 
hem, which created him many enemies in Oxford ; but 
Henry VIII. had such an opinion of him, that he would 
not suffer him to be molested. Soon after this he was 
obliged to leave the university, and assuming a lay cha- 
racter, became steward to sir Thomas Arundel, who at 
first treated him with great kindness, till having dis- 
covered his sentiments as to religion, he became his most 
implacable enemy. 

Mr. Hooper having received intelligence that some mis- 
chief was intended against him, left the house of sir Tho- 



380 pox's book of martyrs. 

mas Arundel, and borrowing a horse from a friend, whose 
life he had saved, rode off toward the sea-side, intend- 
ing to go to France, sending back the horse by a servant. 
He resided some time at Paris, in as private a manner as 
possible. Returning again to England he was informed 
against, and obliged to leave his native country a second 
ime. 

He went over again to France, but not being safe there, 
he travelled into Germany : from thence he went to Basil, 
where he married a pious woman, and afterward settled 
some time at Zurich, in Switzerland : there he applied 
closely to his studies, and made himself master of the 
Hebrew language. 

At length when the true religion was set up after the 
death of king Henry VIII., among other English exiles 
that returned was Mr. Hooper. In the most grateful man- 
ner he returned thanks to all his friends abroad, who had 
shown him so much compassion ; particularly to the 
learned Bullinger, who was a great friend to all those who 
were persecuted for the gospel. When he took an affec- 
tionate leave of Bullinger, he told him that he would write 
to him as often as he could find an opportunity, but added. 
" Probably I shall be burned to ashes, and then some 
friend will give you information. Another circumstance 
should not be omitted in this place, and that is, that when 
he was appointed bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, the 
herald who emblazoned his arms put the figure of a lamb 
in a fiery bush, with the rays of glory descending from 
heaven on the lamb, which had such an effect on Dr. 
Hooper, that he said he knew he should die for the truth ; 
and this consideration inspired him with courage. But to 
return to our narrative. 

When Dr. Hooper arrived in London, he was so much 
rilled with zeal to promote the gospel, that he preached 
every day to crowded congregations. In his sermons he 
reproved sinners in general, but particularly directed his 
discourse against the peculiar vices of the times. 

The abuses he complained of were owing to a variety of 
causes : the nobility had got the church lands, and the 
clergy were not only seditious in their conduct, but igno- 
rant even to a proverb. This occasioned a scene of gene- 
ral immorality among all ranks and degrees of people, 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 381 

which furnished pious men with sufficient matter for re- 
proof. 

In his doctrine, Hooper was clear, plain, eloquent, and 
persuasive, and so much followed by all ranks of people 
that the churches could not contain them. 

Although no man could labour more indefatigably in the 
Lord's vineyard, yet Hooper had a most excellent consti 
tution, which he supported by temperance, and was there- 
fore enabled to do much good. In the whole of his con- 
versation with those who waited on him in private, he 
spoke of the purity of the gospel, and of the great things 
of God, cautioning the people against returning to popery, 
if any change in the government should take place. This 
was the more necessary, as the people in general were but 
ill grounded, though Cranmer, Ridley, and many other 
pious men were using every means in their power to make 
them acquainted with the principles of the Christian reli- 
gion. In this pious undertaking, no one was more forward 
than Dr. Hooper ; at all times, " in season, and out of sea- 
son," he was ready to discharge his duty as a faithful 
minister of the gospel. 

ifter he had preached some time, with great success, in 
the city, he was sent for by Edward VI., who appointed 
him one of his chaplains, and soon after made him bishop 
of Gloucester, by letters-patent under the great seal ; 
having at the same time the care of the bishopric of Wor- 
cester committed to him. 

As Dr. Hooper had been some time abroad, he had con 
tracted an aversion to the popish ceremonies, and before 
he went to his bishopric, he requested of the king that he 
might not be obliged to give countenance to them, which 
request the monarch complied with, though much against 
the inclinations of the other bishops. Dr. Hooper and his 
brethren of the reformed church had many disputes about 
the Romish tenets, which shows that there are some re- 
mains of corruption in the best of men. Some persons 
seek honours with unwearied zeal, and seem to take more 
pleasure in titles, than in considering that an elevated rank 
only increases the necessity of being more observant of 
our duty. 

Dr. Hooper differed f-om these men, for instead of seek- 
ing preferments, he would never have accepted of any, 



SS2 

had they not been pressed on him. Having the care of 
two diocesses, he held and guided them both together, as if 
they had been but one. His leisure time, which was but 
little, he spent in hearing causes, in private prayer, and 
reading the scriptures. He likewise visited the schools, 
and encouraged youth in the pursuit of learning. He had 
children of his own, whom he likewise instructed, and 
treated them with all the tenderness of a good parent, but 
without the indulgence of a weak one. 

He kept open house, with provisions for the poor; 
which was a very pious and necessary action in those times, 
because many persons who had been driven out of the con- 
vents roved up and down the country starving. He re- 
lieved a certain number of these every day, and when they 
had satisfied their hunger he delivered a discourse to them 
on the principles of the Christian religion. 

After this manner, bishop Hooper continued to discharge 
his duty as a faithful pastor, during the whole of king 
Edward's reign. But no sooner was Mary proclaimed, 
than a sergeant at arms was sent to arrest our bishop, in 
order to answer to two charges : 

First, to Dr. Heath, who had been deprived of the dio- 
cess of Gloucester for his adherence to popery, but was 
now restored by the queen : secondly, to Dr. Bonner, 
bishop of London, for having given evidence to king 
Edward against the persecuting prelate. 

Bishop Hooper was desired by some of his friends to 
make his escape, but his answer was, " I once fled for my 
life, but I am now determined, through the strength and 
grace of God, to witness the truth to the last." 

Being brought before the queen and council, Gardiner, 
sitting as president, accused bishop Hooper of heresy, 
calling him by the most opprobrious names. This was in 
September, J 553, and although he satisfactorily answered 
the charges brought against him, he was committed to pri- 
son on the pretence of being indebted to the queen in seve- 
ral sums of money. On the 19th of March, 1554, when 
he was called again to appear before Gardiner, the chan- 
cellor, and several other bishops, would not suffer him to 
plead his cause, but deprived him of his bishopric. 

Being asked whether he was a married man, he an- 
swered in the affirmative, and declared that he would not 



POX'S BOOK OP MARTYR8. 383 

oe unmarried, till death occasioned the separation ; be- 
cause he looked upon the marriage of the clergy, as neces- 
sary and legal. 

The more they attempted to browbeat him, the more 
resolute he became, and the more pertinent in his answers. 
He produced the decrees of the council of Nice, which 
first ascertained the canon of scripture, where it was 
ordained to be lawful, as well as expedient, for the clergy 
to marry. These arguments were to little purpose with 
men who had their instructions from the queen, and were 
previously determined to punish him; the good bishop 
was therefore committed to the tower, but afterward re- 
moved to the Fleet. 

As the determination for burning him was not agreed on, 
he was only considered as a debtor to the queen, for the 
rents of his bishopric, which was the reason of his being 
sent to the Fleet. This, however, was a most unjust 
charge ; for the protestant religion had been established in 
the first y ar of the reign of her brother Edward, by act 
of parliament ; so that Dr. Hooper's acceptance of 
bishopric was in all respects legal and constitutional. 

As a debtor, he was to have the rules of the Fleet, 
which the warden granted him for five pounds sterling ; 
but went immediately and informed Gardiner, who, not- 
withstanding he had paid the money, ordered him to be 
closely confined. 

The following account of his cruel treatment while con- 
fined here, was written by himself, and affords a picture 
of popish barbarity, which cannot fail to make a due im- 
pression on our readers. 

" The first of September, 1553, I was committed unto 
the Fleet, from Richmond, to have the liberty of the pri- 
son ; and within six days after I paid five pounds sterling 
to the warden for fees, for my liberty ; who immediately 
upon payment thereof complained unto the bishop of Win- 
chester, upon which I was committed to close prison one 
quarter of a year in the tower-chamber of the Fleet, and 
j%ed extremely ill. Then, by the means of a good gentle- 
woman, I had liberty to come down to dinner and supper, 
though not suffered to speak with any of my friends ; but 
as soon as dinner and supper were done, to repair to my 
chamber again. Notwithstanding, while I came down thus to 



384 

dinner and supper, the warden and his wife picked quarrels 
with me, and complained untruly of me to their grea* 
friend, the bishop of Winchester. 

" After one quarter of a year, Babington the warden, and 
his wife, fell out with me, respecting the wicked mass : 
and thereupon the warden resorted to the bishop of Win- 
chester, and obtained to put me into the wards, where 1 
have continued a long time, having nothing appointed to 
me for my bed but a little pad of straw and a rotten 
covering, with a tick and a few feathers therein, the cham- 
ber being vile and stinking, until by God's means good 
people sent me bedding to lie on. On one side of the 
prison is the sink and filth of the house, and on the other 
the town ditch, so that the stench of the house has infected 
me with sundry diseases. 

" During which time I have been sick, and the doors, 
bars, hasps, and chains being all closed upon me, I have 
mourned, called and cried for help ; but the warden, when 
he hath known me many times ready to die, and when the 
poor men of the wards have called to help me, hath com 
nianded the doors to be kept fast, and charged that none 
of his men should come at me, saying, * Let him alone, it 
were a good riddance of him.' 

" I paid always like a baron to the said warden, as well 
in fees, as for my board, which was twenty shillings a 
week, beside my man's table, until I was wrongfully de- 
prived of my bishoprics, and since that time I have paid 
him as the best gentleman doth in his house ; yet hath he 
used me worse and more vilely than the veriest slave that 
ver came to the common side of the prison. 

" The warden hath also imprisoned my man, William 
Downton, and stripped him out of his clothes to search foi 
letters, and could find none but a little remembrance oi 
good people's names who had given me their alms to 
relieve me in prison ; and to undo them also, the warden 
delivered the same bill unto the said Stephen Gardiner, 
God's enemy and mine. 

" I have suffered imprisonment almost eighteen months, 
my goods, livings, friends, and comfort taken from me ; 
the queen owing me, by just account, fourscore pounds or 
more. She hath put me in prison, and giveth nothing to 
keep me, neither is there suffered any one to come at me. 



fox's book of martyrs. 385 

whereby I might have relief. I am with a wicked man 
and woman, so that I see no remedy, saving God's help 
but I shall be cast away in prison before I come to jud-g 
ment. But I commit my just cause to God, whose will be 
done, whether it be by life or death." 

Aftei he had been eighteen months in prison, on the 22d 
of January, in 1555, the warden of the Fleet was ordered 
to bring him before the Chancellor Gardiner, who, with 
other bishops, were appointed to examine him a second 
time, at Gardiner's palace in Southwark. 

When brought before these merciless persecutors, the 
chancellor made a long speech to him, desiring him to for- 
sake the opinions he had embraced, and return to the bosom 
of the church ; adding, that as the pope was the head of the 
church, so it was breaking through her unity to separate 
from her. He promised to procure him the pope's absolu- 
tion if he would recant his opinions ; but this was merely 
an ostentatious pretence to mercy ; for Gardiner knew, 
that Hooper was too well grounded in his religious opinions, 
to comply with his request. 

To this Dr. Hooper, answered., that as the pope's doctrine 
was contrary to the sacred scriptures, and as he could not 
be the head of the church, because there was no head of 
't but Christ, so he would live and die asserting the doc- 
trines he had taught. 

Gardiner replied, that the queen would never show any 
mercy to the enemies of the pope : whereupon Babington, 
the warden, was commanded to take him back to the Fleet. 
It was likewise ordered, that he should be shifted from his 
former chamber, which was done ; and he was searched, to 
find, if possible, whether he had any books concealed about 

him, but none were found. 

On the 25th of January he was again brought before the 
chancellor to be examined, and was again asked whether 
or not he would recant ; but nothing could shake his con- 
stancy. 

On Monday morning, February 4th, the bishop of London 
went to the prison to degrade him, which was o/one in the 
usual form, by putting the different robes upon him worn by 
priests ami then taking them off. They did not put on him 
the bishop's robes, because they did not admit of the validity 
of his ordination. While they were stripping him of these 

33 



§86 fox*s eook of MAftTVfta. 

Romish rags, "he told them he was glad to part with therii, 
because his mind had been always against them, and con- 
sidered them as no better than heathenish relics ; as in fact 
they were, for the same kind of robes were worn by the 
priests before the time of Constantine the Great. 

A few hours after he was degraded, the keeper came to 
him and told him, he was to be sent down to Gloucester to suf- 
fer death. Upon this he lifted up his eyes and hands to hea- 
ven, praising God that he was to die among his people, as it 
would be the means of confirming them in the truth of what 
he had taught them. He immediately sent to his servant 
for his boots and cloak, that he might be in readiness to at- 
tend the officers whenever they should come for him. 

About four in the morning he was taken out of prison 
oy the sheriff, and conducted to the sign of the Angel, near 
St. Dunstans's church, Fleet-street. There he was received 
by the queen's officers, who had the warrant for his execu 
tion ; after which they permitted him to take some refresh 
ment. 

About break of day he cheerfully mounted on horse 
back without help, having a hood on his head under his hat, 
that he should not be known ; and thus equipped, with a 
serene and cheerful countenance, proceeded on the road 
for Gloucester, attended by his keepers. The guards asked 
him what houses he was accustomed to use on the road 
and when they were informed, in order to perplex him, they 
took him to others. 

On the Thursday following they arrived at Cirencester, 
a town in his own diocess, and about eleven miles from 
Gloucester, where they dined atthe house of a woman who 
had always hated the protestants, and traduced bishop 
Hooper's character as much as possible. This woman, 
seeing his constancy, was so affected, that she lamented his 
case with tears, and begged his pardon for the manner in 
which she had spoken of him. 

Dinner being over, they proceeded to Gloucester, where 
they arrived about five in the afternoon. A great crowd of 
people were assembled about a mile without the town ; so 
that one of the guard, fearing a rescue, rode up to the 
mayor's house to demand aid and assistance. This being 
granted, the people dispersed. 

Hooper was that night lodged in the house of one Ingram, 



i'oX S BOOR OF MARTYRS. 387 

where he ate his supper with a good appetite, and slept 
very quietly, as the guard declared, for tiiey continued in 
4he chamber with him all the night. In the morning he 
got up, and having prayed most fervently, was visited by 
sir Anthony Kingston, who was one of the persons appointed 
to see him executed. When sir Anthony came into the cham- 
ber he found him at his prayers, and waiting till he had done 
asked if he did not know him. To this bishop Hooper 
answered, that he did know him, and was glad to see him in 
good health. He added, that he was come there to end his 
life, and blessed God that it was to be in the midst of his 
own diocess. He said he loved life as well as it ought to be 
loved, but he was not to enjoy it at the expense of his future 
welfare. He was not to blaspheme his Saviour by denying 
his name, through which alone he looked for salvation ; but 
trusted that he should be endowed with fortitude sufficient 
to bear all the torments his enemies could inflict upon him. 

Sir Anthony Kingston had profited much from the 
preaching of Bishop Hooper, and taking his leave, told him 
with tears, that he was extremely sorry to lose so worthy 
a person. Dr Hooper answered, that it was his duty to 
persevere in the truth, and not to be ashamed of the gos- 
pel, lest Christ should refuse to acknowledge him before his 
Father in heaven. 

The same day, in the afternoon, a poor blind boy came 
to visit bishop Hooper, and falling on his knees before him, 
said, " Ah, my lord, I am blind in my eyes, but your pious 
instructions have removed a spiritual blindness from my 
heart. May God support you under all your sufferings, 
and bring you even through flames, to heaven !" 

Several other persons visited the bishop, among whom 
was a very wicked man, a bigoted papist, who had known 
him formerly. This man upbraided him with what he 
called his heresy ; but Hooper bore all his insults with 
patience and meekness. 

The time appointed for the execution of this pious 
bishop drawing nigh, he was delivered to the sheriffs of 
Gloucester, who, with the mayor and alderman, repaired to 
his lodgings, and at the first meeting, having saluted him, 
took him by the hand. The resigned martyr thanked the 
mayor with the rest of the officers, for taking a condemned 
man by the hand, and for all the friendship that had for- 



388 fox's book of martyrs. 

merly subsisted between them, for lie had long been ac 
quainted with them. He begged of the sheriffs that they 
would make the fire as violent as possible, that his pains 
might be of the shorter duration ; adding-, that he might 
have had his life if he chose it, but could not consistently 
with that duty he owed to Grod, and his own conscience, 
He said, he knew the Bishop of Rome was Antichrist, 
and therefore he could not be obedient to him. He de- 
sired they would not deny his request, but let him suffer as 
soon as possible, without exercising any unnecessary cru- 
elty, -which was unbecoming the dignity of men of honour. 

A consultation was held by the sheriffs, whether or not 
they should lodge him, the evening before his execution, in 
the common gaol over the north gate of the city ; but the 
guards who had brought him from London, interceded so 
earnestly in his favour, that he was permitted to remain in 
his former lodgings ; and he spent the evening in prayer, 
together with as much of the night as he could spare 
from his ordinary rest. The believer, who is to rest in 
Christ Jesus throughout the endless ages of eternity, may 
well enjoy an hour's sleep, before the commencement ol 
even the most excruciating tortures. 

When bishop Hooper arose in the morning, he desired 
that no person whatever should disturb him in his devo- 
*ions, till the officers came to lead him out to execution. 

About eight o'clock, the lord Chandois, attended by 
several other noblemen and gentlemen, came to conduct 
him to the place of execution ; and at nine Dr. Hooper 
was ready. Being brought down from his chamber, when 
he saw the guards, he told the sheriffs he was no traitor, 
but one who was willing to die for the truth ; and that, if 
they would have permitted him, he would have willingly 
gone unguarded to the stake, without troubling any officers. 
Af'ierward looking upon the multitude of people that were 
assembled, above seven thousand in number, he said : 
" Alas ! why ait; so many people assembled ] I dare not 
speak to them as formerly." 

He was led forward between the two sheriffs, as a lamb 
to the slaughter, having on a gown which the man of the 
house, where he was confined, had lent him ; and being 
much afflicted with an illness he had contracted in prison, he 
was obliged to walk with a staff in his hand. The sheriffs 



fox's book of martyrs. 389 

having commanded him not to speak one word, he was not 
6een to open his mouth ; but beholding the people, who 
mourned bitterly, he sometimes lifted up his eyes toward 
heaven, and looked cheerfully upon such as he knew; and, 
indeed, his countenance was more cheerful than it had 
be«m for a long time before. 

When he was brought to the stake, he embraced it, and 
looked smilingly at a place where be used formerly to 
preach. He then kneeled down to pray, and beckoned 
several times to one whom he knew very well, to come 
and hear him that he might give a faithful account of what 
he said, after his death, as he was not permitted to speak 
aloud. When he had been some time at prayer, a 
pardon was brought, and offered to him, on condition that 
he would recant; but neither promises of pardon, nor 
threatenings of punishment, had any effect on him ; so 
immoveable was he in the faith, and so well established in 
the principles of the gospel. 

Prayers being ended, he prepared himself for the stake, 
by taking off his landlord's gown, which he delivered to the 
sheriffs, requesting them to see it restored to the owner. 
He then took off the rest of his clothes, except his doublet 
and hose, in which he intended to be burned ; but the she- 
riffs not permitting that, he patiently submitted. After 
this a pound of gunpowder was placed between his legs, 
and the same quantity under each arm ; three chains were 
then fixed round him, one to his neck, another to his mid- 
dle, and a third to his legs ; and with these he was fasten- 
ed to the stake. 

This being done, fire was put to the fagots ; but they 
being green, he suffered inexpressible torment. Soon after 
this, a load of dry fagots was brought, bnt still the wind 
blew away the flames ; so that he begged for more, that he 
might be put out of his misery. 

At length the fire took effect, and the martyr triumph- 
antly ascended into heaven, after such a fiery trial as 
almost exceeds any thing we meet with in the primitive 
ages. His last words were, " Lord Jesus have mercy 
upon me ; enable me to bear my sufferings, for thy name's 
sake, and receive my spirit." 

Such was the end of one of the most eminent fathers of 
the church of England ; and surely that religion which could 

33* 



390 fox's book of martyrs. 

support him under such dreadful tortures must be of God 
Fanaticism and superstition may give resolution ; but it is 
only the divine influence of pure religion which can bestow 
calmness in the hour of death. 

Sufferings and Martyrdom of Dr. Rowland Taylor. 

Dr. Rowland Taylor was born in the town of Hadleigh, 
in Suffolk, which was one of the first places in England 
that received the gospel ; and here he preached constantly 
during the reign of king Edward. Archbishop Cranmer, 
who was a good judge of merit, and loved to reward it in 
learned men, took him into his family, and presented him 
to the living of Hadleigh. Here he proved himself a most 
excellent preacher and a faithful pastor. He made him- 
self acquainted with every individual in his parish; he 
taught them like the apostles and primitive Christians, who 
went from house to house. The love of Christ wrought so 
strongly on his mind, that every Sunday and holiday he 
preached in the most fervent manner to his people. 

Nor did he restrict himself to preaching : his life was 
one continued comment 021 his doctrine : it was a life of 
holiness ; he studied nothing so much as to do good ; was 
a stranger to pride ; and was clothed with humility. He 
was particularly attentive to the poor, and his charity was 
bounded only by his ability. While he rebuked sinners 
for their enormities, he was ready to relieve their wants. 
This was a godlike disposition, and the characteristic of a 
true Christian. 

In the course of his ministerial labours he often met 
with opposition, and even with abuse ; but he attended to the 
maxim laid down by the apostle, that we must go through 
evil, as well as through good report. He was a married 
man, but never set down to dinner with his family, without 
first inquiring whether the poor wanted any thing. To 
those who were distressed, he gave relief before he ate any 
thing himself. He familiarized himself with all ranks of 
men, in order that he might win them to the knowledge 
and practice of the truth. He was an indulgent, tender, 
affectionate husband, and brought up his children in the 
fear of God ; well knowing, that to lay a good foundation is 
the only way to secure a beautiful superstructure. 






fox's BOOK op martyrs. 391 

In this excellent manner, Dr. Taylor continued to dis- 
charge his duty at Hadleigh, as long as king Edward lived ; 
but no sooner was that pious monarch dead, than affairs 
took a different turn. 

And here we may observe, that if a man be ever so 
pious, if he be ever so faithful in the discharge of his duty 
yet he will meet with many enemies : this was the case 
with Dr. Taylor. In his parish, notwithstanding all hi. 
endeavours to suppress popery, yet some papists re- 
mained ; and their hatred of his doctrine was extended to 
the preacher, and rendered them blind to his excellencies. 

Two of these persons, named Clarke and Foster, hired 

Romish priest to come to Hadleigh to say mass. For 
his purpose, they ordered an altar to be built with all con- 
venient speed, and appointed that mass should be said on 
Palm Sunday. But the reformers met together in the 
evening, and pulled down the altar ; it was, however, built 
up again, and a watch was appointed, lest it should be de- 
molished a second time. 

The day following, Clarke and Foster came, bringing 
along with them their popish priest, who was to perform 
the service of mass. The priest was dressed in his robes 
for the occasion, and had a guard with him, lest he should 
be interrupted by the populace. 

When Dr. Taylor heard the bells ring, he went into the 
church to know the reason, but found the doors of the 
chancel barred against him. However, getting within the 
chancel, he saw the popish priest at the altar, attended by 
a great number of people, with their swords drawn. The 
doctor accused the priest with idolatry, but the priest 
retorted upon him, and called him traitor, for disobeying 
the queen's proclamation. Dr. Taylor said he was no 
traitor, but a minister of the gospel, commanded to teach 
the people ; and then ordered the popish priest to retire, 
as one who came in there to poison the flock of Christ 
with his most abominable doctrines. Foster, who was prin- 
cipally concerned in this affair, called Dr. Taylor a traitor, 
and violently dragged him out of the church; while his 
wife, on her knees, begged that God would vindicate his 
innocence, and avenge the injuries so wrongfully inflicted 
on him. 

Foster and Clarke next exhibited a charge of heresy 



392 fox's book of martyrs. 

against Dr. Taylor, to the chancellor Gardiner, who sent 
a messenger, commanding Dr. Taylor to appear before 
him, in order to answer to the charge. 

When Dr. Taylor's friends heard of this, they were 
much grieved, and fearing what would be the result, as jus- 
tice was not to be expected from the furious bigots then in 
power, advised him to go abroad to save his life. But this 
he would by no means comply with ; saying that it was 
more honourable to suffer for the cause of God, than to flee 
from the wrath of wicked men. " God," said he, " will 
either protect me from sufferings, or he will enable me to 
bear them." He added, " That he knew his dying for the 
truth would be of more service to the cause of Christ, 
than his flying away from the malice of his persecutors." 

When his friends saw that nothing could prevail upon 
him, they took leave of hi with tears ; after which he sc* 
out for London, accompanied by a servant named Join, 
Hull, who had been a considerable time in his family. 
This faithful servant advised him to make his escape, but 
to no purpose ; for Taylor said, that the good shep- 
herd should never leave his sheep, till he was torn from 
them by force. In the same heavenly manner he exhort- 
ed John to be constant in the profession of Christianity, 
and not to return to popery. He said, that worldly 
wisdom was apt to take too deep a root in our hearts, and 
that it was, therefore, our duty to do all we could to triumph 
over the world, the flesh, and the devil ; to be consistent 
in our attachment to the truth ; to keep in view the glori- 
ous eternity provided for the faithful ; to despise earthly 
enjoyments, while we strive to render ourselves worthy of 
heaven ; to fear God more than men ; to believe that he 
will sweeten all our sufferings, by the influences of his 
Holy Spirit ; to think nothing too hard to endure, in 
order to obtain a blessed immortality ; and, with a Chris- 
tian courage, to trample on death, and triumph over the 
grave. 

When Dr. Taylor was brought before the chancellor 
Gardiner, that prelate reviled him in the most shocking 
manner, calling him a traitor and heretic ; all which our 
pious martyr patiently submitted to. In the opinion of 
Gardiner he might have been a heretic, but, according to 
law, he could not have been a traitor ; for the statute of 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 393 

high treason and the statute of heresy enforced different 
punishirents : for treason the offending party was to be 
hanged and quartered ; for heresy he was to be burned 
alive. Had queen Mary proceeded against this man, and 
many others, on the statute of high-treason, they must have 
been acquitted, as the trial would then have been conducted 
according to the principles of common law. But this she 
had no intention to do ; her design was to gratify the 
clergy, by causing all those who opposed their sentiments, 
to be put death in the most barbarous manner. 

Dr. Taylor answered the chancellor with becoming 
firmness : he told him, that he was the persecutor of God's 
people, and that he, himself, had adhered to our Saviour 
and his word : he put bishop Gardiner in mind of the oath 
he had taken in the beginning of king Edward's reign, 
to maintain the protestant religion, and oppose the papal 
supremacy : bnt Gardiner answered that the oath had 
been extorted, so that he was not obliged to abide by it. 

It is certain, that every oath extorted by the threatening 
of punishment, can have no moral force ; and the man 
who has been weak enough to swear, may recede from 
the obligatory part as soon as he had an opportunity. But 
this was not the case with Gardiner ; had he refused the 
oath, all the punishment inflicted upon him would have 
been the loss of his bishopric. And surely he who pays the 
least regard to the sacred Name invoked to witness his sin- 
cerity, will not choose to enjoy a temporal subsistence at 
the expense of a guilty conscience. 

Dr. Taylor explained to the bishop the nature of an 
oath, and told him, that as he had not been forced to take 
one contrary to the dictates of conscience, so he was either 
prejudiced in what he did, or what was still worse, he tri- 
fled with a sacred obligation ; that no man whatever could 
dispense with an oath, unless he knew it was his duty to 
do so, in consequence of its having been imposed on him 
by violence. 

Gardiner who was self-convicted, turned the subject to 
the disputed points concerning the real presence, and some 
other things in popery. 

With respect to the real presence in the sacrament, Dr 
Taylor told him, that it had no foundation in scripture, 
Dut had been first taught about the tenth century. He 



394 fox's book of martyrs. 

quoted the book of Bertram, which was written about that 
time, wherein the real presence was denied, and transuo- 
stantiation considered as no better than a novel doctrine. 
He made it appear, that Christ only commanded his fol- 
lowers to keep the feast of the Eucharist, in remembrance 
of his last supper with them. That as Christ broke bread 
and drank wine with his disciples in a friendly manner, be> 
fore he was dragged to prison, to judgment, and to execu- 
tion, consequently his followers should observe it as a feast 
of unity to the end of the world. 

Such were the sentiments of this pious man, concerning 
a very disputed point. He was clear in his conceptions 
concerning the scripture account of the last supper, for all 
the primitive fathers have taught us to consider it in the 
same light. When Christ said, " This is my body," he 
could only mean the atonement that was to be made for sin, 
and surely that could not be the bread he took in his hand. 
The body of Christ, joined to his human soul, and both 
united to the divine nature, are now in a state of glory in 
heaven; and how then can the priest turn a morsel of 
bread into the body of our Divine Redeemer ] The bare 
thought puts common sense to the blush. It is full of ab- 
surdity, and can only impose on the grossest credulity, for 
the purpose of increasing the influence of artful and de- 
signing priests. 

Dr. Taylor, after being interrogated by the chancellor 
for a considerable time, was at length committed to prison ■ 
for bigotry knows no feeling; persecution no resting place. 

While he was in prison, he spent the greatest part cf 
his time in prayer, in reading the sacred scriptures, and in 
exhorting the poor prisoners confined with him to a sense 
of their duty. This was the more necessary, as the people 
at the time were extremely ignorant; light, indeed, was 
beginning to break in upon them, bat they knew not how 
to walk. The prison in which Dr. Taylor was confined, 
was that commonly called the King's Bench, and there he 
met with that holy and pioua man Mr. Bradford, whose 
affinity in religious sentiments contributed to mitigate his 
Bufferings. If two virtuous or pious persons are of the 
same opinion, and under the same circumstances, they 
generally sympathize with each other. This was the case 
with Dr. Taylor and Mr. Bradford ; for no sooner did they 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 395 

meet each other in prison ; than they blessed God who 
had brought them together, to suffer for the truth of the 
gospel. 

After Dr. Taylor had laid a considerable time in pri- 
son, he was cited to appear al Bow church in Cheap- 
side, to answer to the dean of the arches concerning his 
marriage. 

When he was brought before this officer, he defended 
marriage in such a masterly manner, that the dean would 
not venture to pronounce a divorce, but only deprived him 
of his benefice. He was then remanded to prison, and 
kept there above a year and a half; when he and several 
others were brought to be again examined before the chan- 
cellor. 

Gardiner asked him whether he adhered to the form of 
religion, as established by king Edward VI. 1 Whether he 
approved of the English Book of Common Prayer % whether 
he were married 1 and many other questions. To all these 
Dr. Taylor gave clear and satisfactory answers, justifying 
his conduct ; but these were not sufficient, seeing his death 
was resolved on. 

Concerning marriage, Dr. Taylor proved, not only from 
the sacred scriptures, but likewise from the primitive 
writers, that the clergy were not prohibited from it. As 
he was a learned civilian and canonist, he proved from the 
Justinian institutions, that all oaths of celibacy were then 
condemned, and that the priests were exhorted to marry. 
Nay, so strict was the emperor in this particular, that if a 
man made over a legacy to his wife, on condition of her 
not marrying again, the will was to be void. 

He added further, that it was contained in the pandects, 
that if a man had a female slave, and made her free, on 
condition she should never marry, the condition should not 
be binding, and she might marry, nor should her former 
master be permitted to reclaim her. It was the more pro- 
per to quote the pandects, because they were written in 
the sixth century, and although many abuses had then crept 
into the church, yet celibacy was not in the number. 

The next time he was brought before the chancellor, 
was in company with Mr. Saunders, whose martyrdom we 
have already described, and Mr. Bradford. Dr. Taylor 
vyas charged with heresy by the chancellor and the other 



396 fox's book of martyrs. 

bishops who were present. He acknowledged that he a"r. 
horred all the popish doctrines of the church of Rome , 
that the pope was Antichrist : that to deny the clergy the 
privilege of marriage was the doctrine of devils ; that there 
were but two sacraments in the New Testament; that the 
mass was idolatry, the body of Christ being in heaven ; 
and last of all, that he would abide by these sentiments to 
the last, being convinced that they were consistent with 
the doctrines laid down by Christ and his apostles. 

One may easily imagine what would be the conse- 
quences of such a free and open declaration. The papists 
could not bear to hear their favourite notions thus called 
in question, and even condemned as idolatry. 

The chancellor therefore pronounced sentence on him, 
and he was taken to a prison in Southwark, called the 
Clink, where be remained till night, and then was sent to 
the Compter in the Poultry. Here he remained seven 
days : when, on the 4th of Februa. y, 1555, Bonner, bishop 
of London, with others, came to the .-aid Compter to de- 
grade him, bringing with them the popish habits.* 

The last part of the ceremony of degradation is for the 
bishop to strike the person degraded on the breast ; but 
Bonner's chaplain advised him not to strike Dr. Taylor, 
for he would surely stnke aga;n. " Yes, that I will, by 
St. Peter," said the doctur * 4 lor the cause is Christ's, and 
I should not be a gxui slider, if I did not fight my mas- 
ter's battles." 

T.ie lush "!p, therciore, contended himslf with pronouncing 
a e \rse upon Dr. Taylor ; to which the doctor answered, 
" \ ou may curse as long as you please, but I am confident 
God will support me : I have the witness of a good con- 
science, that I am standing in defence of the truth ; where- 
as you dare not say that you are doing so : but I will pray 
for you." 

When he was brought up to his chamber, he told Mr. 
Bradford that he had made the bishop of London afraid; 

* Superstition had risen to such a pitch in the reign of Henry I., that the 
clergy were exempted from corporeal punishments ; but his grandson 
Henry II., in the constitutions of Clarendon, ordained that they should suf- 
fer the same punishments as the laity ; and therefore the clergy, that il 
might not be said that a priest sufFored death, always degraded him before 
execution; thus by a pitiful quibble maintaining the shadow of exemp* 
tion, when they had lost the substance. 



fox's book of martyrs. 397 

"for/* said be, "his chaplain advised him not to strike 
me, lest 1 should strike him again, which I made him be- 
lieve I would, although I never intended to do so." 

To strike an enemy is strictly forbidden in the gospel ; 
but even had Dr. Taylor been so unguarded as to strike 
the bishop, it could only have been imputed to the igno- 
rance which at that time prevailed, even over the minds of 
pious men. 

The night after he was degraded, his wife, with his son 
Thomas, came to see him ; and such was the good nature 
of the keeper, that he permitted them to go into his apart- 
ment and sup with him. Thus Dr. Taylor found a great 
difference between the keeper of the bishop's prison and 
the keeper of the Compter. The bishop's keepers were 
ever cruel, blasphemous, and tyrannical, like their master ; 
but the keepers of the royal prisons, for the most part, 
showed as much favour as could be granted to those whom 
they had in custody. John Hull, the servant, came with 
the wife and son of Dr. Taylor; and at their first coming 
in, they all kneeled down and prayed. 

After supper the doctor walked two or three times across 
the room, blessing God that he had singled him out to bear 
witness to the truth, as it is in Jesus : that he had been 
thought worthy to suffer for his name's sake : and then, 
turning to his son, he said, " My dear son, God Almighty 
bless you, and give you his Holy Spirit, to be a true servent 
of Christ ; to hear his word, and constantly to stand by the 
truth all thy life long; and, my son, see that thou fear God 
always ; flee from all sin and wicked living ; be virtuous ; 
attend closely Co thy book, and pray to God sincerely. In 
all things that are lawful, see that thou be obedient to thy 
mother ; love her and serve her ; be ruled and directed 
by her now in thy youth, and follow her good counsel in 
all things. Beware of lewd company, of young men that 
fear not God, but indulge their vain appetites and lusts. 
Fly from whoredom, and abhor all filthy living ; remem- 
bering that I, thy father, am to die in defence of holy mar- 
riage. Another day, when God shall bless thee, love and 
cherish the poor people, and count that thy chief riches 
is to be rich in alms : and when thy mother is far ad- 
vanced in years, forsake her not, but provide for her ac- 
cording to thy abilities, and see that she want for nothing 

34 



338 FOX'S fiOOK OF MARTVltS. 

And God will bless thee, and give thee long life upofr 
earth, and prosperity ; for which now, upon my knees, ] 
pray, through the merits of Jesus Christ." 

Then, turning to his wife, he said, " My dear wife, con 
tinue steadfast in the faith, fear, and love of God. Keep your 
self undefiled by the popish idolatries and superstition. I have 
been unto you a faithful yoke-fellow ; and so have you 
been unto me ; for the which I pray God to reward you 
and doubt not, my dear, but God will reward you. Nov- 
the time is come that I shall be taken from you, and you 
discharged of the wedlock bond toward me : therefore I 
will give you my counsel, that I think most expedient for 
you. You are yet a child-bearing woman, and, therefore, 
it will be most convenient for you to marry ; for, doubt- 
less, you will not of yourself be able to support our dear 
children, nor be out of trouble, till you be married. 
Therefore, as soon as Providence shall point out some 
pious, honest man, who you think will support the poor 
children, be sure to marry him, and live in the fear of 
God ; but by all means avoid idolatry and superstition." 

Having said these words, he fell down and prayed for 
his family ; and then he gave his wife an English Prayei 
Book, as set forth by king Edward VI.; and to his son 
Thomas, he gave a Latin book, containing a collection 
of sentiments from the writings of the primitive fathers, 
relating u the courage and constancy of the ancient 
martyrs. 

The reader who attends to the conduct of this dying 
martyr, will find that there is something in true religion 
far superior to deception. In the primitive times it was 
common for the martyrs, previous to their sufferings, to 
converse with their friends, and also to write epistles to 
the churches at a distance. Some of those epistles are 
still extant, and we know that they were frequently read 
in the churches afterward : but no eloquence can exceed 
that of Dr. Taylor, in taking leave of his wife and son. 
How sweetly do his expressions now from the heart ! 
What a manly dignity under his sufferings does he display ! 
What resignation to the will of God, and what a firm re 
liance on divine Providence ! Here, indeed, grace triumphed 
over human nature, and the soul showed its native splen 
lioar, although confined within a mortal body. 



fOX's BOOK OP MARTYRS. 399 

The next morning-, the 5th of February, so early as two 
o'clock, the sheriff of London, attended by his officers, 
came to the Compter, and took Dr. Taylor to the Wool- 
pack, near Aldgate. His wife, having some suspicion that 
lie was to be taken out that morning, waited all night in 
the church of St. Botolph, near Aldgate, having with her a 
poor orphan girl, whom the doctor had brought up from 
infancy, and one of her own children. When the sheriff and 
his company came opposite the church, the orphan girl 
cried out, " O, my dear father ; mother, mother, here is 
my father led out." Then Mrs. Taylor cried out, " Row 
land ! Rowland ! where art thou V for the morning was 
extremely dark. To this Dr. Taylor answered, "Here I 
am, but I am confined.' The sheriff's officers wanted to 
hurry him away ; but the sheriff, who had more humanity, 
ordered them to let him speak to his wife. 

She then came to him, when, taking his wife and 
daughter, with the orphan girl, by the hands, he kneeled 
down and prayed with them ,• which, when the sheriff and 
the o:her persons present saw, they shed tears. Prayers being 
over, he rose up, and taking his wife by the hand, bid her 
have good comfort, for he had a clear conscience. " God,' 
said he, " will provide a father for my children, but let 
them be steadfast in the faith." To which his wife an- 
swered, " God be with you my dear Rowland, and I will, 
with his grace, meet you at Hadleigh." 

He was then put into a chamber, with four of the yeo- 
man of the guard, and the sheriff's officers. As soon as he 
entered, the chamber he knelt down, and gave himself 
wholly to prayer. There the sheriff, seeing Mrs. Taylor, 
told her that she must not speak to her husband ; but that 
she might go to his house, and he would provide for her, 
so that she should not want for any thing. To this she 
answered, " she would rather go to her mother's house," 
and two officers were sent to conduct her thither. 

. This part of the sheriff's conduct doubtless arose from 
principles of humanity ; for what man can see a wife and 
children weeping over a father and husband, condemned to 
a cruel death, for a disputable offence, without shedding a 
tear of compassion ] 

Dr. Taylor remained at the Woolpack till eleven in the 
forenoon when the sheriff of Essex came to receive hira : 



400 fox's book of martyrs. 

and they prepared to set out on horseback. As they came 
out of the gate of the inn, John Hull, his old servant whom 
we have mentioned before, was there waiting, having with 
him Dr. Taylor's son Thomas; John lifted up the boy that 
he might see his father, and then set him on the horse be- 
fore him. Dr. Taylor, taking off his hat, said, " Good 
people, this is my own son, begotten in lawful wedlock, 
and I bless God for lawful matrimony." He then lifted up 
his eyes toward heaven, and prayed for his son ; laid his 
hand upon the boy's head, and blessed him. After this he 
delivered him to John Hull, whom he shook by the hand, 
and said, " Thou hast been the faithfullest servant ever 
man had." 

When they arrived at Brentwood, they made a close 
hood for Dr. Taylor, having two holes for his eyes, and 
one for his mouth to breathe at. They did this, that no 
man should know him, or speak to him ; which practice 
was frequently used in such cases. The evidence of their 
own consciences convinced them that they were leading 
innocent people to the slaughter. Guilt creates fear, and 
thus does Satan reward his vassals. 

All the way Dr. Taylor was as joyful as if he had been 
going to take possession of an estate ; and, indeed, how 
could it be otherwise 1 He knew he was suffering for the 
faith, and that the truth was able to support him ; and he 
anticipated a glorious reward from Him for whose cause 
he suffered. 

At Chelmsford they were met by the sheriff of Suffolk, 
who was to take him into that county to be executed. 
While they were at supper, the sheriff of Essex laboured 
earnestly with him to return to the popish religion. He 
told him, " That as he was a man of universal learning, so 
his death would be a great loss „o the nation." The sheriff, 
whatever his own opinions were, said a great deal to Dr 
Taylor, and falling before him on his knees, with the tears 
running down his cheeks, earnestly begged of him to re- 
cant his opinions, and be reconciled to the church ; pro- 
mising that he and all his friends would procure his 
pardon. 

Dr. Taylor then took the cup in his hand, and looking 
to the company, particularly to the sheriff of Essex, said, 

"I heartily thank vou £>*• your good will; I have 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 401 

hearkened to your words, and minded well your counsels ; 
and, to be plain with you, I do perceive that I have been 
deceived myself, and am likely to deceive a great many in 
Hadleigh of their expectations." At these words the whole 
company clapped their hands with joy : " God bless you,' 
said the sheriff of Essex, " keep to that, it is the most 
comfortable word we have heard from you. Why should 
you cast away yourself? Play a wise man's part, and then 
I am certain } r ou will find favour.' ' Upon this Dr. Tay- 
lor replied, " I am, as you see, a man of a very large 
body, which I thought should have lain in Hadleigh church- 
yard, and there are a great number of worms there who 
would have had the feasting, which no doubt they wished 
for many a day ; but I know I am deceived," said he, " and 
the worms are so too, for my body is to be burned to ashes, 
and they will lose their feast." 

When the sheriff and his companions heard him say this, 
they were amazed at his constancy ; for the nearer his suf- 
ferings approached, the more he was strengthened to endure 
them. In this he imitated our blessed Redeemer, who, 
when he felt his father's wrath beginning to be inflicted 
upon him, he sweated as it were great drops of blood ; but 
when led forth, and nailed to the cross, he looked round 
with complacency, and convinced the spectators that the 
glory of God shone through his human nature. . 

Such has been the case of the nartyrs in all ages and na- 
tions. Human nature might, at first, shudder and shrink 
back at the thought of the sufferings they were exposed 
to ; but their constancy increased as the fiery trial drew near. 

When the procession arrived at Aldham Common, 
where Dt Taylor was to be burnt, he lifted up his eyes 
to heaven, and thanked God that the last struggle was 
come, and he hoped he should be enabled to go through 
with it. 

He tore the hood from his face, that he might be seen 
by the numerous spectators, many of whom had formerly 
been his parishoners. He then began to speak to the peo- 
ple who were praying for him ; but the officers thrust sticks 
into his mouth, and threatened to cut his tongue out, 
unless he would promise to keep silence at the olace of 
execution. 

When he had prayed, he kissed the stake, aad got into a 
34* 



402 fox's book of martyrs. 

barrel partly filled with pitch, which was placed for that 
purpose. Fire being set to the pitch, Dr. Taylor con- 
tinued praying in the most devout manner, till one of the 
officers, more humane than the rest, knocked out his brains 
with a halberd, and thus put an end to his misery. 

We have in this case an instance of popish superstition, 
in some respects more violent than any we have yet taken 
notice of. Dr. Taylor was not only a pious man, but he 
had been, for his knowledge of the canon and civil laws, 
long esteemed as the glory of Cambridge. He had, from 
ciis distinguished abilities and learning, confuted the chan- 
cellor in his arguments concerning the marriage of the 
clergy ; and, indeed, in all other respects, he was so well 
acquainted with the ancient fathers, that he was with great 
propriety called " The Walking Library." But no mercy 
can be shown, where religious rancour takes place. There 
is something in such persecutions that shuts up the bowels 
of compassion, even toward the nearest relations. Civil 
persecutors may occasionally relax into compassion ; but 
those who persecute from erroneous notions of religion, are 
strangers to every humane sensation ; and pant for the 
blood of those who differ from them, " even as the hart 
dotli for the water-brooks." 



CHAPTER ML 



Martyrdom of numerous Persons in various parts of 
England. 

The following persons were next called to seal their 
faith with their blood, the particulars of whose martyrdoms 
our limits will not permit us to give. 

Thomas Tomkins, a weaver in the parish of St. Leonards, 
Shored itch, and William Hunter, a silk-weaver in Coleman- 
street, London, were burnt ; the former at Smithfield, and 
the latter at Brentwood, on the 16th of March, 1555. 

On the 28th day of the same month, William Pigot and 
Stephen Knight were burnt; the former at Braintree, and 
the latter at Maiden in Essex, and the day following, the 
Rev. John Lawrence was also burnt at Colchester. 



fox's book of martyrs. 408 

On t.:e 30th day of the same month, Dr. Farrar bishop 
-jf St. Davids, suffered at the market-place in Caermarthen, 
giving a striking evidence of his unshaken* confidence in 
the Redeemer. 

Rawlins White, a poor fisherman, also suffered martyr- 
dom on the same day, his constancy and faith being thus 
described : 

Upon the day appointed for terminating his life, which 
was March 30th, 1555, he was brought from prison, and 
in his way to the place appointed for the bloody scene, 
met his wife and children, wringing their hands, and most 
bitterly lamenting his approaching fate. This affecting 
sight drew tears from his eyes ; but soon recollecting him- 
self, and striking his breast with his hand, he said, " Ah ! 
flesh, stayest thou me, wouldst thou fain prevail ? Well, 
do what thou canst, by God's grace thou shalt not get the 
victory." 

As soon as he arrived at the stake, he fell on his knees, 
and kissed the earth, saying, " Earth to earth and dust to 
dust ; thou art my mother, to thee I must return." 

When he was fastened to the stake, and the straw, reeds, 
and wood were placed round him, a priest, appointed for 
the purpose, stood up and harangued the spectators, who 
were very numerous, it being market-day. 

The priest, having finished his discourse, in which he in- 
veighed against the opinion of the protestants concerning 
the sacrament of the altar, our martyr rebuked him, proved 
his doctrine to be false, and cited, as his authority, those 
words of our Lord, " Do this in remembrance of me." 

The fire being kindled, he was soon surrounded by the 
flames, in the midst of which this good old man, (for he 
was sixty years of age) held up his hands till the sinews 
shrunk, crying earnestly, " O Lord, receive my soul ! O 
Lord, receive my spirit !" The flames were so vehe- 
ment about his legs, that they were almost consumed, be 
fore the upper part of his body was injured by the fire ; 
notwithstanding which he bore his sufferings with the great- 
est composure and resignation, cheerfully resigning his 
soul into the hands of Him who gave it, in sure and cer- 
ain hope of being rewarded for his constancy with a 
r Dwn of eternal life. 



404 

Martyrdom of the Rev. George Marsh, 

This eminent and pious divine was descended from pool 
but hones* and religious parents, who educated him, from 
his earliest years, in the principles of the reformed reli- 
gion ; so that when he arrived at manhood, he was well 
versed in the doctrines of the pure gospel of Christ. 

At his first entrance into the business of life he followed 
the occupation of farming, and by his honest endeavours 
maintained his family with decency and reputation for 
some years : but, on the decease of his wife, being dis- 
posed to study, he placed his children with his father, 
quitted his farm, and went to Cambridge, where he made 
such progress in literature, that he soon entered into holy 
orders. 

He officiated as curate in several parishes in the county 
of Lancaster, kept a school at Dean, and was a zealous 
promoter of the true religion, as well as a vigorous opposer 
of th idolatries of the church of Rome, during the reign 
of Edward VI. But when popery again raised its de- 
structive head, he, among many others, became the object 
of its persecution, as one that propagated doctrines con- 
trary to the infallible church, and, therefore, liable to the 
severest censure and punishment. 

Mr. Marsh, on hearing that search was made after him, 
absconded for some time, and in his retirement often de- 
liberated with himself, whether he should go abroad to 
save his life, or surrender himself up, in order to ward off 
the mischief which threatened his mother and brother, who 
were suspected of having concealed him. 

During this unsettled state of his mind, he consulted 
with his friends, and earnestly sought direction of God, 
that he might be guided in the way, which most conduced 
to His glory, and his own spiritual and eternal interest. 

At length, thinking that flight would evince cowardice 
in the best of causes, he determined, by the grace of God, 
to abide by the consequence, and accordingly surrendered 
himself to the earl of Derby, at his seat at Latham, in the 
county of Lancaster. 

When he was brought into the earl's presence, he was 
charged with propagating heresy, and sowing sedition 
among the people ; but he denied the charge, and de- 



fox's book of martyrs. 405 

dared, that he preached no other doctrine than what was 
contained in the word of God, and that he always enforced 
allegiance to his sovereign according to the will of God. 

Being asked to deliver a summary of his belief, he de- 
clared, that he believed in God the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, according to .the creeds of the Apostles, the council 
of Nice, and the saints Athanasius, Austin, and Ambrose. 

A Romish priest, who was present, then proceeded to 
inquire his opinion concerning the favourite tenet of the 
church of Rome, relating to the sacrament. Marsh an- 
swered, in general, that he believed whosoever received 
the holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, ac- 
cording to his own appointment, did eat and drink his body 
and blood, with all the benefits arising from the same, be- 
cause our Lord was ever present at his own ordinances. 

This general reply not appearing satisfactory, the inqui- 
sitors descended to particulars, and demanded his opinion, 
whether or not the elements were changed into the very 
body and blood of Christ after consecration. Our martyr 
briefly observed, that what he believed he had already de- 
clared, and desired them not to propose to him such hard 
and unprofitable questions, in order to endanger his life, 
and, as it were, to suck from him his very blood. 

Incensed at this reply, the earl told him, that instead of 
seeking his destruction, he meant to preserve his life in 
this world, and secure his happiness in that which is to 
come, by converting him from damnable errors and here- 
sies, and bringing him over to the holy mother-church, out 
of the pale of which there was no salvation. 

After many questions and exhortations, finding he still 
persevered in the faith which opposed that of the " infal- 
lible church," the earl gave him pen and ink, and ordered 
»iim to write down his belief concerning the sacrament of 
'he altar ; and on his writing the same words he had be- 
bre delivered, he was commanded to be more particular, 
Allien he wrote only the following : " Further I know 
not." 

This resolute behaviour exposed him to the keenest re- 
sentment of his popish persecutors, who committed him to 
prison, and suffered no one to come near him but the 
keeper, who brought him daily the scanty allowance of the 
place. Various attempts were made, during his confine- 



406 

merit, to bring him to a recantation ; but as he still re- 
mained fixed and determined in his faith, they adminis 
tered to him the four following articles, and the earl de- 
clared, if he would not subscribe them, he should be im- 
prisoned, and proceeded against with the utmost severity. 
" 1. Whether the mass now used intlije church of England 
was according to Christ's institution ; and with faith and 
reverence and devotion, to be heard and seen V 1 

"2. Whether Almighty God, by the words pronounced 
by the priest, did change the bread and wine, after the 
words of consecration, into the body and blood of Christ, 
whether it were received or reserved V 1 

" 3. W r hether the lay-people ought to receive it but 
under the form of bread only, and whether the one kind 
was sufficient for them]" 

" 4. Whether confession to the priest now used in Eng 
land was godly and necessary 1" 

Having retired for some time to consider of these arti- 
cles, he returned, and delivered his opinion of them as 
follows : 

The first he absolutely denied. 

The second he answered in the very words he had be- 
fore written. 

With respect to the third, he declared, that lay-people, 
according to the institution of Christ, ought to receive 
under both kinds, and that, therefore, to receive under one 
kind only was not sufficient. 

To the last he observed, that though auricular confes- 
sion was a ^ood means to instruct ignorant people, it was 
not necessary to salvation, because not commanded by 
God. 

To these answers he added, that his faith in Christ, 
founded on the infallible word of the only living and true 
God, he never would deny at the instance of any living 
creature, or through fear of any punishment whatsoever. 

He was afterward committed to Lancaster gaol, laid in 
irons, and arraigned at the bar with the common felons 
where the persecutors endeavoured to extort from him in 
formations of several persons in that county, whom tne} 
suspected of maintaining heretical opinions ; but nothing 
could prevail with him to utter a word that might endan- 
ger the lives or liberties of his faithful brethren in Christ 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 407 

He was severely reprimanded for reading aloud to the 
people, who came in crowtk every morning and evening 
under his prison window, the litany and prayers of the re- 
formed church, together with select passages of holy writ 
in the English tongue, which they termed " preaching," 
and, therefore, deemed criminal. 

After remaining some weeks in confinement at Lancas- 
ter he was removed to Chester, and placed in the bishop's 
custody, when his lordship frequently conferred with him, 
and used his utmost endeavours to bring him to an ac- 
knowledgment of the corporal presence in the sacrament 
of the altar, the mass, confession, and, in short, all the 
tenets and practices of the church of Rome. 

When the bishop found he would not assent to a single 
point, he remanded him to prison ; and in a few days sum- 
moned him before him in the cathedral church of Chester, 
where, in the presence of the mayor, chancellor, and prin- 
cipal inhabitants of that city, both laity and clergy, he 
caused him to take a solemn oath, to answer truly to such 
articles as might be alleged against him. 

After he was sworn, the chancellor accused him of hav- 
ing preached and published, most heretically and blasphe- 
mously, within the parishes of Dean, Eccles, Berry, and 
many other parishes within the bishop's diocess, directly 
against the pope's authority, the Catholic church of Rome, 
the mass, and the sacrament of the altar; with many othei 
articles. 

To all these charges Mr. Marsh answered, that he had 
neither heretically nor blasphemously preached or pub- 
lished against any of the articles, but as occasion served ; 
and as his conscience obliged him to maintain the truth, 
as declared in God's word, and as all then present had 
acknowledged in the p/eceding reign. 

Being examined as to every particular article, he mo- 
destly answered according to the doctrine publicly taught 
in the reign of Edward VI. 

After a further confinement of three weeks in prison, 
Marsh was again brought into the cathedral, where the 
chancellor made a formal harangue on the bishop's care 
of his flock, " in order to prevent infection from scabbv 
sheep," and the like ; which being ended, the former ar- 



408 POX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

tides were propounded to him ; to which he severalty an- 
swered in the negative. 

Being charged with having declared that thv church and 
doctrine taught and set forth in king Edward's time was 
the true church, and that the church of Rome is not the 
crue Catholic church ; he acknowledged the declaration, 
and ratified it by a repetition. 

Several persons present taking occasion to ask him, as 
he denied the bishop of Rome's authority in England, 
whether Linus, Anaeletus, and Clement, who were bishops 
of Rome, were not good men ; he replied in the affirmative, 
but reminded them that they claimed no more authority in 
England, than the archbishop of Canterbury doth in Rome. 

As this observation highly reflected on the validiity of 
the papal supremacy, the bishop was so incensed, that he 
gave Marsh very abusive language, calling him, " a most 
damnable, irreclaimable, unpardonable heretic. 

In return for this, Mr. Marsh mildly expostulated with 
the bishop, telling him, if he could be persuaded, in his 
own conscience, that the articles proposed to him were 
founded on God's word, he would gladly yield in every 
point ; declaring, that he held no heretical opinion, but 
utterly abhorred every kind of heresy ; and then called all 
present to bear witness, that in the articles of religion he 
held no other opinion than what was by law established, 
and publicly taught in England, in the time of Edward VI. 
and in such religion and doctrine, by the grace of God 
he would live, and die. 

He was then, for the last time, asked, whether he would 
stand to these opinions, being full of heresies, or forsake 
them, and return to the Catholic church ; and on his hear- 
tily declaring he would continue steadfast and immoveablf 
in the faith of God's word, nor ever return to any church 
that was not founded on scripture authority, the bishop 
began to read his sentence of condemnation, but was in- 
terrupted by the chancellor, in order to give him another 
opportunity of recanting. 

He resolutely withstood the earnest entreaties of several 
people, who desired him to accept of the proffered mercy; 
nor could even the repeated exhortations of the bishop and 
chancellor prevail with this eminent servant of Christ, to 



409 

deny Ids Lord and master, and submit to the usurpation of 
cruel, tyrannical men. » 

All endeavours proving ineffectual, the bishop proceeded 
in passing sentence, which being ended, Marsh was deli- 
vered up to the sheriffs, who conveyed him to North-Gate 
prison, where he was confined in a dungeon till the day 
appointed for his execution. 

On the 4th of April, 1555, this firm believer was led 
to the place appointed for his martyrdom, amid a crowd 
of lamenting spectators. It was near a village, called 
Spittle-Boughton, at a small distance from Chester. As 
soon as he arrived at the place, the chamberlain of that 
city showed him a box, containing the queen's pardon, on 
condition that he would recant. Our martyr coolly an- 
swered, "that he would gladly accept the same, for he 
<oved the queen ; but as it tended to pluck him from God, 
who was King of kings, and Lord of lords, he could not 
r eceive it on such terms." 

Then turning to the spectators, he told them the cause 
of the cruel death which awaited him, and exhorted them 
to remain steadfast in the faith of Christ. As soon as he 
was chained to the stake, he again addressed himself 
earnestly in prayer to God ; and the fire being kindled, he 
suffered for a considerable time, the most exquisite torture, 
his flesh being so broiled and puffed up, that those who 
stood before him could not see the chain with which he was 
fastened. At length, with the utmost fortitude, he spread 
forth his arms, and said, with a voice to be universally 
heard by the spectators, " Father of Heaven, have mercy 
upon me." Soon after which he yielded up his spirit into 
the hands of Him who gave it. 

Thomas Hawkes. 

This person was the son of reputable and pious parents, 
tfho gave him a good education, and brought him up in 
he reformed religion. He strictly adhered to the religious 
principles which had been instilled into his youthful mind ; 
so that finding the gospel, after the death of king Edward, 
began to decline, (especially among great families, in one 
of which, that of lord Oxford, he lived,) he returned home, 

35 



410 fox's book of martyrs. 

where he noped quietly to enjoy the worship of God, ac- 
cording tc the dictates of his own conscience. 

In these expectations, however, he soon found himself 
disappointed. As there were now popish emissaries in 
every corner, lying in wait to give information of those 
who favoured the doctrines of the reformation, Hawkes 
was apprehended, and brought before the earl of Oxford, 
his former master. The earl referred him to bishop Bon- 
ner, to whom having written that he had refused to have 
his child baptized according to the order of the church now 
in use, he left him to his lordship's discretion. 

When Hawkes was brought before the bishop, he was 
asked the cause of keeping the child unbaptized so long : 
to which he returned for answer that he was bound to do 
nothing contrary to the word of God. 

The bishop then urged, that baptism being a sacrament 
contained in the word of God, and incumbent on every 
Christian, he was, consequently, criminal in denying, or 
not conforming to the same. To this he said, that he by 
no means denied God's institution, but men's invention 
therein ; such as the use of oil, cream, spittle, salt, 
candle, &c. 

After much debate on the subject, the bishop asked him 
if he would have his child baptized according to the ser- 
vice-book, set out in the reign of Edward VI. To which 
he replied, that it was the very thing he desired from his 
soul. This, however, was but mere equivocation to learn 
his sentiments ; for it appeared, in the sequel, that Bon- 
ner's wish was to compel him to submit to the superstitions 
of the church of Rome ; but this, with all his artifice, he 
was unable to effect. 

The bishop, with several others, held various conferences 
with Hawkes, concerning his belief of the corporeal pre- 
sence in the sacrament of the altar, the mass, the holy 
creed, holy water, and other ceremonies of the church of 
Rome : but these also he rejected as he had done that of 
baptism. At length Bonner, finding he could by no means 
prevail with him to recant his opinions and submit to the 
church of Rome, sent him prisoner to the Gatehouse, in 
Westminister, commanding the keeper to confine him 
ilose-y, and not to permit any person to converse with him. 



411 

During his confinement, various methods were used 
to bring him over to recant, such as conversation, read- 
ing to him, taking him to hear sermons, and the like ; 
but all proved ineffectual ; his constant answer to all 
who spoke to him on that subject, being, " I am no 
changeling." 

Bonner, incensed at his steadfastness, told him on his 
second examination, he should find him " no changeling" 
neither, and immediately went out and wrote the following 
paper: 

" I, Thomas Hawkes, do here confess and declare, be- 
fore my ordinary, Edmund, bishop of London, that the 
mass is abominable, detestable, and full of all superstition ; 
and also concerning the sacrament of the body and blood 
of Christ, commonly called the sacrament of the altar, 
that Christ is no part thereof, but only in heaven. This I 
have believed, and this I do believe." 

Bonner ordered Hawkes to subscribe to this paper ; 
but he refused to set his name to what he had not 
written himself; upon which the haughty prelate struck 
him on the breast, declaring, at the same time, that " He 
would severely chastise all such proud and disobedient 
knaves." 

A few days after this the bishop summoned him, with 
several others, to appear publicly in the consistory court 
at St. Paul's, where the several articles alleged against 
him, together with the bill of confession, were read to him, 
in all which he firmly continued. 

They then strongly exhorted him to recant, that they 
might not be obliged to pass the awful sentence of death 
upon him. To which he cheerfully replied, that if lie had 
a hundred bodies, he would suffer them all to be torn to 
pieces, rather than abjure the faith of Christ's gospel. 

On his thus steadfastly persevering in the faith which he 
professed, the bishop read the sentence of condemnation 
against him, and five others ; after which he was sent back 
to prison, where he remained till June following, when he 
was delivered into the hands of lord Rich, who caused him 
to be conveyed to Chelmsford, and from thence to Coxall, 
in Essex, where he was burned on the 10th of the same 
month. 

Mr. Hawkes gave many pious exhortations to his friends 



412 fox's book of martyrs. 

who came to visit him ; and several of them requesting 
if it were possible, that he would show them some token, 
by which the possibility of burning without repining might 
appear, he promised " by the help of God, to show them 
that the most exquisite torments were to be endured in the 
glorious cause of Christ. Accordingly, it was agreed be- 
tween them, that if the rage of pain were tolerable, he 
should lift up his hands toward heaven, before he gave up 
the ghost. 

A short time after this agreement, he was led to the 
place of execution, and after having fervently prayed to 
Almighty God, the flames were kindled around him, and 
he continued in them so long, that his speech was taken 
away by their violence ; his skin was contracted, and the 
spectators thought he was dead, when, on a sudden, and 
contrary to all expectation, this eminent and zealous ser- 
vant of God, mindful of the promise he had made to his 
friends, held his hands flaming over his head, and, as if hi 
an ecstacy of joy, clapped them thrice together. 

The astonished multitude testified their approbation oi 
his faith and patience, and his friends, to whom he made 
the promise, were exceedingly confirmed in their most 
holy faith, by being eye-witnesses to the power of divine 
strength, which is able to support the servants of God, 
under every trial that may befall them, for the sake of the 
truth, as it is in our Blessed Redeemer. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Margaret Polley, first Female Martyr in England. 

Such was the fury of bigoted zeal during the reign oi 
■Vlary, that even the more tender sex did not escape the 
esentment of the Romish persecutors. These monsters 
: n human form, embraced every opportunity of exercising 
their cruelty, tyranny, and usurpation ; nor could youth, 
age, or sex, impress on their minds the least feelings of 
humanity. 

Information being given against Margaret Polley, to 
Maurice, bishop of Rochester, she was brought before him, 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 413 

tnd was examined as to her belief on the contested points 
of religion. Her doctrines being contrary to those taught 
by the church of Rome, and refusing to recant, the bishop 
pronounced sentence of condemnation against her ; after 
which she was carried back to prison, where she remained 
for upward of a month. 

She was a woman in the prime of life, pious, charitable, 
humane, learned in the scriptures, and beloved by all who 
were acquainted with her. 

During her imprisonment she was repeatedly exhorted 
to recant ; but she refused all offers of life on such terms, 
choosing glory, honour, and immortality hereafter, rather 
than a few short years in this vale of grief, and even those 
purchased at the expense of truth and conscience. 

When the day appointed for her execution arrived, 
which was in July, 1555, she was conducted from the pri- 
son at Rochester to Tunbridge, where she was burned, 
sealing the truth of what she had testified with her blood, 
and showing that the God of all grace, out of the weakest 
vessel can give strength, and cause the meanest instru- 
ment to magnify the glories of his redeeming love. 

Christopher Wade, 

On the same day that Margaret Polley suffered, one 
Christopher Wade, a weaver of Dartford, in Kent, who 
had likewise been condemned by the bishop of Rochester, 
shared the same fate, and at the same place ; but they 
were executed separately, he first submitting to the dread- 
ful sentence* 

Other Martyrs, 

About the same time, John Bland, John Frankesh, Ni- 
cholas Sheterden, and Humphrey Middleton, were a\l burnt 
together at Canterbury. The first two were ministers and 
preachers of the gospel, the one being rector of Adesham, 
and the other vicar of Rolvindon, in Kent. They all re- 
signed themselves to their fate with Christian fortitude, 
fervently praying to God to receive them into his heavenly 
kingdom. 

35* 



414 

Martyrdom of John Denley, John Newman* and Patrick 
Packingham 

So perpetually were the popish emissaries in search 
of their prey, in all parts of the kingdom, that it was almost 
impossible long to escape them. As Mr. Denley and Mr. 
Newman were travelling together in Essex, they were met by 
Mr. Tyrrel, justice of the peace for the county, who, suspect- 
ing them of heresy, caused them to be apprehended, and 
searched ; and, at the same time, took from Mr. Denley 
a confession of his faith in writing, concerning the sacrament 
of the altar, together with certain notes collected from the 
holy scriptures. 

The justice immediately sent them to London, and with 
them a letter to be presented to the council, together with 
the papers he found on the former. 

On their being brought before the council, they were 
admonished to yield obedience to the queen's laws ; but 
this advice proving ineffectual, their examination was refer- 
red to Bonner, bishop of London. 

On the 28th of June, 1555, Denley and Newman, 
together with Patrick Packingham, who had been appre- 
hended two days before, were brought before Bonner, at his 
palace in London. 

On the 5th of July the bishop proceeded, in the usual 
form, against these three persons, in his consistory court 
at St. Paul's. After the various articles and their answers 
had been read, they were exhorted to recant, and both pro- 
mises and threats were used by Bonner, in order to prevail 
with them ; but on their remaining steadfast in their faith, 
they were all condemned as heretics, and delivered into 
the custody of the sheriffs of London, who conducted them 
o Newgate, where they were kept till writs were issued 
for their execution. 

Denley was ordered to be burned at Uxbridge, where, 
being conveyed on the day appointed, he was chained to 
the stake, and expired amid the flames, singing a Psalm to 
the praise of his Redeemer. A popish priest who was pre- 
sent, was so incensed at his singing, that he ordered one of 
the attendants to throw a fagot at him, which was accord- 
ingly done, and he received a violent fracture in his skull, 
which, with the fire, soon deprived him both of speech and 
life. 



POX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 4l5 

A few days after, Packingham suffered at the same place; 
but Newman was executed at Saffron- Walden, in Essex. 
Tliey both died with great fortitude and resignation, cheer- 
fully resigning their souls into the hands of him who gave 
them, in full expectation of receiving crowns of glory ir. 
the heavenly mansions. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Life and Martyrdom of Hugh Latimer, Bishop of 
Worcester ; and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, 

Hugh Latimer was born of humble parents at Thirkes- 
ton, in Leicestershire, about the year 1475, who gave him 
a good education and sent him to Cambridge, where he 
showed himself a zealous papist, and inveighed much 
against the reformers, who, at that time, began to make 
some figure in England. But, conversing frequently with 
Thomas Bilney, the most considerable person at Cambridge, 
of those who favoured the reformation, he saw the errors 
of popery, and became a zealous protestant. 

Latimer, being thus converted, laboured both publicly 
and privately, to promote the reformed opinions, and 
pressed the necessity of a holy life, in opposition to those 
outward performances, which were then thought the essen- 
tials of religion. This rendered him obnoxious at Cam- 
bridge, then the seat of bigotry and 4 superstition. How- 
ever the unaffected piety of Mr. Bilney, and the eloquence 
of Latimer, wrought greatly upon the junior students, and 
increased the credit of the protestants so much, that the 
papist clergy became greatly alarmed, and, according to 
their usual practice, called aloud for the secular arm. 

Under this arm Bilney suffered at Norwich : but his suf- 
ferings, far from shaking the reformation at Cambridge, 
inspired the leaders of it with new courage. Latimer be- 
gan to exert himself more than he had yet done ; and suc- 
ceeded to that credit with his party, which Bilney ha' 1 o 
long supported. Among other instances of his zeal I 
resolution in this cause, he gave one which was very re- 
markable : he had the courage to write to Henry VIII , 



416 

against a proclamation, then just published, forbidding the 
use of the bible in English, and other books on religious 
subjects. He had preached before his majesty once or twice 
at Windsor ; and had been taken notice of by him in a 
more affable manner, than that monarch usually indulged 
toward his subjects. But whatever hopes of preferment 
his sovereign's favour might have raised in him, he chose 
to put aW to the hazard rather than omit what he thought 
his duty. His letter is the picture of a sincere heart, and 
concludes in these terms ; " Accept, gracious sovereign, 
without displeasure, what I have written : I thought it my 
duty to mention these things to your majesty. No per- 
sonal quarrel, as God shall judge me, have I with any 
man : I wanted only to induce your majesty to consider 
well what kind of persons you have about you, and the 
ends for which they counsel. Indeed, great prince, many 
of them, or they are much slandered, have very private 
ends. God grant your majesty may see through all the 
designs of evil men, and be in all things equal to the high 
office, with which you are intrusted. Wherefore, gracious 
king, remember yourself; have pity upon your own soul, 
and think that the day is at hand, when you shall give ac- 
count of your office and the blood which hath been shed 
by yo jr sword : in the which day, that your grace may 
s. L and steadfastly and not be ashamed, but be clear and 
ready in your reckoning, and have your pardon sealed 
with the blood of our Saviour Christ, which alone serveth 
at that day, is my daily prayer to him, who suffered death 
for our sins. The spirit of God preserve you." 

Lord Cromwell, who was now in power, being a favourer 
of the reformation, obtained a benefice in Wiltshire for 
Latimer, who immediately went thither and resided, dis- 
charging his duty in a conscientious manner, though much 
persecuted by the Romish clergy ; who at length obtained 
an archiepiscopal citation for his appearance in London. 
His friends would have had him quit England ; but their 
persuasions were m vain. 

He set out for London in the depth of winter, and under 
a severe fit of the stone and cholic ; but he was most dis- 
tressed at the thoughts of leaving his parish exposed to the 
popish clergy. On his arrival at London, he found a cour 
of bishops and canonists ready to receive him ; where, in 



fox's book of martyrs. 417 

stead of be ng examined, as he expected, about bis sermons, 
a paper was put in bis bands, which he was ordered to sub- 
scribe, declaring his belief in the efficacy of masses for 
the souls in purgatory, of prayers to dead saints, of pil- 
grimages to their sepulchres, the pope's power to forgive 
sins, the doctrine of merit, the seven sacraments, and the 
worship of images ; which, when he refused to sign, the 
archbishop ordered him to consider what he did. " We 
intend not," said he, " Mr. Latimer, to be hard upon you, 
we dismiss you for the present ; ta«ke a copy of the arti- 
cles : examine them carefully, and God grant that at our 
next meeting we may find each other in better temper." 

At several succeeding meetings the same scene was acted 
over again. He was inflexible, and they continued to dis- 
tress him. Three times every week they sent for him 
with a view either to draw something from him by captious 
questions, or to tease him at length into compliance. Tired 
out with this usage, when he was again summoned, instead 
of going, he sent a letter to the archbishop, in which, he 
told him, " That the treatment he had lately met with had 
brought him into such a disorder as rendered him unfit to 
attend that day ; that in the meantime he could not help 
taking this opportunity to expostulate with his grace for 
detaining him so long from his duty ; that it seemed to him 
most unaccountable, that they, who never preached them- 
selves, should hinder others ; that as for their examination 
of him, he really could not imagine what they aimed at ; 
they pretended one thing in the beginning, and another in 
the progress ; that if his sermons gave offence, although 
he persuaded himself they were neither contrary to the 
truth, nor to any canon of the church, he was ready to an- 
slver whatever might be thought exceptionable in them ; 
that he wished a little more regard might be had to the 
judgment of the people : and that a distinction might be 
made between the ordinances of God and man ; that if 
some abuses in religion did prevail, he thought preaching 
was the best means to discountenance them ; that he wished 
all pastors might be obliged to perform their duty ; but 
that, however, liberty might ne given to those who were 
willing ; that as to the articles proposed to him, he begged 
to be excused subscribing to them ; while he lived, he 
never would abet superstition ; and that, lastly, he hoped 



4i§ tfox*s fiobk of MAiifttts 

the archbishop would excuse what he had written ; he knew 
his duty to his superiors, and would practise it ; but in that 
case he thought a stronger obligation lay upon him." 

The bishops, however, continued their persecutions, but 
iheir schemes were frustrated in an unexpected manner. 
Latimer being raised to the see of Worcester, in the year 
1533, by the favour of Anne Boleyn, to whom he was re- 
commended by lord Cromwell, he had now a more exten- 
sive field to promote the principles of the reformation, in 
which he laboured with the utmost assiduity. All the his- 
torians of those times mention him as a person remarkably 
zealous in the discharge of his new office. In visiting, he 
was frequent and observant ; in ordaining, strict and wary; 
in preaching, indefatigable ; and in reproving and exhort- 
ing, severe and persuasive. 

In 1536 he received a summons to attend the parlia- 
ment and convocation, which gave him a further opportu- 
nity of promoting the work of reformation, whereon his 
heart was so much set. Many alteratians were made in re- 
ligious matters, and the Bible was translated into English, 
and recommended to a general perusal, in October, 1537. 

Latimer, highly satisfied with the prospect of the times, 
now repaired to his diocess, having made no longer stay in 
London than was absolutely necessary. He had no talents, 
and he pretended to have none, for state affairs. His whole 
ambition was to discharge the pastoral functions of a bishop; 
neither aiming to display the abilities of a statesman, nor 
of a courtier. How very unqualified he was to support the 
latter of these characters, the following story will prove : 
It was the custom in those days for the bishops to make 
presents to the king on New- Year's day, and many of them 
presented very liberally, proportioning their gifts to their 
hopes and expectations. Among the rest, Latimer, being 
then in town, waited upon the king, with his offering ; but 
instead of a purse of gold, which was the common oblation, 
he presented a New Testament, with a leaf doubled down 
in a very conspicuous manner, at this passage. " Whore- 
mongers and adulterers God will judge." 

In 1539 he was summoned again to attend the parlia 
ment : Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, was his great 
enemy ; and, upon a particular occasion, when the bisYiops 
were with the kirg, kneeled down and solemnly accused 



*YX'S BOOK OP MARtVkS. 419 

bishop Latimer of a seditious sermon preached at court. 
Being called upon by the king, with some sternness, to 
vindicate himself, Latimer was so far from palliating what 
he had said, that he nobly justified it; and turning to the 
king, with that noble unconcern which a good conscience 
inspires, " I never thought myself worthy , said he, " nor 
did I ever sue to be a preacher before your grace ; but I 
was called to it, and would be willing, if you mislike it, to 
give place to my betters ; for I grant there may be many 
more worthy of the room than I am. And if it be your 
grace's pleasure to allow them for preachers, I can be 
content to bear their books after them. But if your grace 
allow me for a preacher, I would desire you to give me 
leave to discharge my conscience, and to frame my doc- 
trine according to my audience. I had been a very dolt, 
indeed, to have preached so at the borders of your realm, 
as I preach before your grace." The boldness of his an- 
swer baffled his accuser's malice ; the severity of the king's 
countenance changed into a gracious smile, and the bishop 
was dismissed with that obliging freedom, which this 
monarch never used but to those he esteemed. 

However, as Latimer could not give his vote for the six 
papistical articles, drawn up by the duke of Norfolk, he 
thought it wrong to hold any office in a church where such 
terms of communion were required, and therefore resigned 
his bishopric, and retired into the country, where he pro- 
posed to live a sequestered life. But in the midst of his 
security, an unhappy accident carried him again into the 
tempestuous atmosphere of the court : he received a bruise 
by the fall of a tree, and the contusion was so dangerous, 
that he was obliged to seek for better assistance than could 
be afforded him by the surgeons of the part of the country 
where he resided. With this view he repaired to London, 
where he had the misfortune to see the fall of his patron, 
lord Cromwell : a loss which he was soon made sensible 
of. . For Gardiner's emissaries quickly found him out in 
his concealment, and a pretended charge of having spoken 
against the six articles, being alleged against him, he was 
sent to the tower ; where, without any judicial examina- 
tion, he suffered imprisonment for the remaining six years 
of king Henry's reign. 

On the death of Henrv the protestant interest revived 



420 

ander Edward, and Latimer was set at liberty. An ad 
dress was made to the protector, to restore him to his dio- 
cess : the protector was willing to gratify the parliament, 
and proposed the resumption of his bishopric to Mr. Lati- 
mer ; who, thinking himself unequal to the weight of it, re- 
fused to resume it, choosing rather to accept an invitation 
from archbishop Cranmer, to take up his residence with 
him at Lambeth ; where his chief employment was to 
hear the complaints and redress the grievances of the poor 
people ; and his character for services of this kind, was 
so universally known, that strangers from every part of 
England resorted to him. 

In these employments he spent two years, during which 
time he assisted the archbishop in composing the homilies, 
which were set forth by authority, in the reign of Edward ; 
he was also appointed to preach the Lent sermons before 
his majesty, which office he performed during the firsl 
three years of his reign. 

Upon the revolution, which happened at court, after the 
death of the duke of Somerset, he retired into the country 
and preached in those places, where he thought his labours 
might be most serviceable. 

He was thus employed during the remainder of that 
reign, and continued the same course, for a short time, in 
the beginning of the next ; but when the reintroduction 
of popery was resolved on, the first step toward it was the 
prohibition of all preaching, and licensing only such as 
were known to be popishly inclined. The bishop of 
Winchester, who was now prime minister, having pro- 
scribed Mr. Latimer, sent a message to cite him before the 
council. He had notice of this design some hours before 
the messenger's arrival, but he made no use of the intelli- 
gence. The messenger found him equipped for his jour- 
ney, at which expressing his surprise, Mr. Latimer told him 
that he was as ready to attend him to London, thus called 
upon to answer for his faith, as he ever was to take any 
journey in his life ; and that he doubted not but that God, 
who had already enabled him to preach the word before 
two princes, would enable him to witness the same before 
a third. The messenger acquainted him that he had no 
orders to seize his person, delivered the letter and#departed. 
However, opening the letter and finding it a citation frotp 



421 

the council, lie resolved to obey it, and set out in mediately. 
As be passed tbrough SmithfieiJ, be said cheerfully, "This 
place of burning hath long groaned for me." The next 
morning he waited upon the council, who sent him to the 
tower, from whence, after some time, he was removed to 
Oxford. 

Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London, received the 
earliest part of his education at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
from whence he was removed to the university of Cam- 
bridge, where his learning and abilities so recommended 
him, that he was made master of Pembroke-hall, in that 
university. After being some years in this office, he left 
Cambridge, and travelled for his advancement in know- 
ledge. On his return to England he was made chaplain 
to Henry VIII. and bishop of Rochester, from which he 
was translated to the see of London by Edward VI. 

In private life he was pious, humane, and affable : in 
public he was learned, sound, and eloquent ; diligent in 
his duty, and ver}' popular as a preacher. 

He had been educated in the Roman Catholic religion, 
but was brought over to the reformed faith by reading Ber- 
tram's book on the Sacrament ; and he was confirmed in 
the same by frequent conferences with Cranmer and Peter 
Martyr, so that he became a zealous promoter of the re- 
formed doctrines and discipline during the reign of king 
Edward. 

On the accession of queen Mary he shared the same fate 
with many others who professed the truth of the gospel 
Being accused of heresy, he was removed from his bishop- 
ric and sent prisoner to the tower of London, and after- 
ward to Bocardo prison, in Oxford ; from whence he was 
committed to the custody of Mr. Irish, mayor of that city, 
in whose house he remained till the day of his execution. 

On the 30th of September, 1555, these two eminent 
prelates were cited to appear in the divinity school at Ox- 
ford, which they accordingly did. 

Dr. Ridley was first examined, and severely reprimand 
ed by the bishop of Lincoln, because, when he heard the 
•' cardinal's grace" and the " pope's holiness" mentioned 
in the commission, he kept on his cap. The words of the 
bishop were to this effect : " Mr. Ridley, if you will not be 
Uncovered, in respect to the pope and the cardinal his le- 

36 



422 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



gate, by wnose authority we sit in commission, your cap 
shall be taken off." 




Examination of Ridley and Latimer. 

The bishop of Lincoln then made a formal harangue, 
in which he entreated Ridley to return to the holy mother- 
church, and insisted on the antiquity and authority of the 
see of Rome, and of the pope, as the immediate successor 
of St. Peter. 

Dr. Ridley, in return, strenuously opposed the argu- 
ments of the bishop, and vindicated the doctrines of the 
reformation. 

After much debate the five following articles were pro- 
posed to him, and his immediate and explicit answers re- 
quired. 

1. That he had frequently affirmed, and openly main- 
tained and defended, that the true natural body of Christ, 
after consecration of the priest, is not really present in the 
sacrament of the altar. 

2. That he had often publicly affirmed and defended, 
tnat in the sacrament of the altar rernaineth still the sub- 
stance of bread and wine. 

3. That he had often openly affirmed, and obstinately 
maintained, that in the mass is no propitiatory sacrifice for 
the quick and the dead. 



pox's rook of martyrs. 423 

4. That the aforesaid assertions have been solemnly 
condemned by the scholastical censure of this school, as 
heretical, and contrary to the Catholic faith, by the prolo- 
cutor of the convocation-house, and sundry learned men of 
both universities. 

5. That all and singular the premises are true, and no- 
toriously known, by all near at hand, and in distant 
places. 

To the first article Dr. Ridley replied, " That he be- 
lieved Christ's body to be in the sacrament, really, by 
grace and spirit effectually, but not so as to include a 
lively and moveable body under the forms of bread and 
wine." To the second he answered in the affirmative. 
Part of the fourth he acknowledged, and part he denied. 
To the fifth he answered, " That the premises were so far 
true, as his replies had set forth. Whether all men spake 
evil of them he knew n.ot, because he came not so much 
abroad to hear what every man reported." 

He was then ordered to appear the following day in St. 
Mary's church, in Oxford, to give his final answer; 
after which he was committed to the custody of the 
mayor. 

When Latimer was brought into court, the bishop of 
Lincoln warmly exhorted him to return to the unity of the 
church, from which he had revolted. 

The same articles which were proposed to Dr. Rid- 
ley were read to Latimer, and he was required to give a 
full and satisfactory answer to each of them. 

His replies not being satisfactory to the court, he was 
dismissed, but ordered to appear in St. Mary's church at 
the same time with Dr. Ridley. 

On the day appointed, the commissioners met, when 
Dr. Ridley being first brought before them, the bishop of 
Lincoln stood up, and began to repeat the proceedings of 
the former meeting, assuring him that he had full liberty 
to make what alterations he pleased in his answers to the 
articles proposed to him, and to deliver the same to the 
court in writing. 

After some debate, Dr. Ridley took out a paper, and 
began to read ; but the bishop interrupted him, and or- 
dered the beadle to take it from him. The doctor desired 
permission tp read on, declaring the contents were only 



424 

his answers to the articles proposed ; but the bishop having; 
privately reviewed it, would not permit it to be read in 
open court. 

When the articles were again administered, he referred 
the notary to his writing, who set them down according tc 
the same. 

The bishop of Gloucester, affecting much concern for Dr„ 
Ridley, persuaded him not to indulge an obstinate temper 
but recant his erroneous opinions, and return to the unity 
of the holy catholic church. 

Dr. Ridley coolly replied, he was fully persuaded that 
the religion he professed was founded on God's most holy 
and infallible church ; and, therefore, he could not aban- 
don or deny the same, consistently with his regard for the 
honour of God, and the salvation of lis soul. He desired 
to declare his reasons, why he could not admit of the 
popish supremacy, but his request was denied. 

The bishop finding him inflexible in the faith, according 
to the doctrines of the reformation, thus addressed him : 
" Dr. Ridley, it is with the utmost concern that I observe 
your stubbornness and obstinacy, in persisting in damnable 
errors and heresies ; but unless you recant, I must proceed 
to the other part of my commission, though very much 
against my will and desire." Ridley not making any reply, 
sentence of condemnation was read ; after which he was 
carried back to confinement. 

When Latimer was brought before the court, the bishop 
of Lincoln informed him, that il.ough they had already- 
taken his answers to certain articles alleged against him, 
yet they had given him time to consider on the same, and 
would permit him to make what alterations he should deem 
fit, hoping, by such means, to reclaim him from his 
errors, and bring him over to the faith of the holy Catholic 
church. 

The articles were again read to him, but he deviated 
not, in a single point, from the answers he had already 
given. 

Being again warned to recant, and revoke his errors, he 
refused, declaring that he never would deny God's truth, 
which he was ready to seal with his blood. Sentence of 
condemnation was then pronounced against him, and he 
was committed to the custody of the mayor. 



fox's book of martyrs. 



42, 1 . 




Burning of Ridley a?id Latimer 

" On the north side of the town, in a ditch over against 
Baliol-college, the place of execution was appointed: and 
for fear of any tumult that might arise to hinder the burn- 
ing, the lord Williams was commanded by the queen's let- 
ters, and the householders of the city to be there assistant 
sufficiently appointed ; and when every thing was in rea- 
diness, the prisoners were brought forth by the mayor and 
bailiffs. 

"Dr. Ridley had on a black gown furred and faced with 
foins, such as he used to wear when he was a bishop; a 
tippet of velvet, furred, likewise about his neck, a velvet 
night-cap upon his head, with a corner cap, and slippers on 
his feet. He walked to the stake between the mayor and 
an alderman, &c. 

" After him came Mr. Latimer, in a poor Bristol frieze 
frock much worn, with his buttoned cap and kerchief on 
his head, all ready to the fire, a new long shroud hanging 
down to the feet : which at the first sight excited sorrow in 
the spectators, beholding, on the one side, the honour they 
once had, and, on the other, the calamity into which they 
had fallen. 

*' Dr. Ridley looking back, saw Mr. Latimer coming after. 
Unto whom he said, Oh, are you there?' 'Yea,' said 
Mr. Latimer 'have after, as fast as I can.' So he fol- 

36* 



426 pox's book of martvrs. 

lowed at a distance, till they came to the stake. Dr. Rid 
ley first entering the place, earnestly held up both hi3 
hands, and looked toward heaven : then shortly after seeing 
Mr. Latimer with a cheerful look, he ran to him, and em- 
braced him, saying, ' Be of good heart, brother, for God 
will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen 
us to abide it.' 

" He then went to the stake, and kneeling down, prayed 
with great fervour, while Mr. Latimer following, kneeled 
also, and prayed as earnestly as he. After this they arose 
and conversed together, and while thus employed, Dr. 
Smith began his sermon to them upon this text of St. Paul, 
in the 13th chapter of the epistle to the Corinthians: ' If I 
yield my body to the fire to be burnt, and have not charity, 
I shall gain nothing thereby.' Wherein he alleged, that 
the goodness of the cause, and not the order of death, 
maketh the holiness of the person : which he confirmed by 
the examples of Judas, and of a woman in Oxford who of 
late hanged herself, for that they and suchlike as he recited, 
might then be adjudged righteous, which desperately sepe- 
rated their lives from their bodies, as he feared those men 
that stood before him would do. But he cried still to the 
people to beware of them, for they were heretics and died 
out of the church. He ended with a very short exhortation 
to them to recant and come home again to the church, and 
save their lives and souls, which else were condemned. 
His sermon scarcely lasted a quarter of an hour. 

" At its conclusion, Dr. Ridley said to Mr. Latimer, 
' Will you answer the sermon, or shall I V Mr. Latimer 
said, i Begin you first, I pray you?' — 'I will,' said Dr. 
Ridley. 

" He then, with Mr. Latimer, kneeled to lord Williams, 
the vice-chancellor of Oxford, and the other commissioners 
appointed for that purpose, who sat upon a form thereby, 
and said, ' I beseech you, *my lord, even for Christ's sake, 
that I may speak but two or three words:' and while my 
lord bent his head to the mayor and vice-chancellor, to 
snow whether he might have leave to speak, the bailiffs, 
and Dr. Marshal, the vice-chancellor ran hastily unto him, 
and with their hands stopping his mouth, said, ' Mr. Ridley, 
if you will revoke your erroneous opinions, you shall not 
mily have liberty so to do, but also your life.' — 'Not oth«r- 



4.27 

wise ?' said Dr. Ridley. — ' No,' answered Dr. Marshal ; 
1 therefore if you will not do so, you must suffer for your 
deserts.' — ' Well, 1 said the martyr, ' so long as the breath 
is in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ, and his 
known truth: God's will be done in me :' with that he rose 
and said, ' I commit our cause to Almighty God who will 
indifferently judge all.' 

" To which Mr. Latimer added his old saying, ' Well, 
there is nothing hid but it shall be opened ;' and said he 
Could answer Smith well enough, if he might be suffered. 
They were then commanded to prepare immediately for 
the stake. 

" They, according, with all meekness obeyed. Dr. Rid- 
ey gave his gown and tippet to his brother-in-law Mr. 
Shipside, who all the time of his imprisonment, although 
he was not suffered to come to him, lay^ there at his own 
charges to provide him necessaries, which from time to 
time he sent him by the sergeant who kept him. Some 
other of his apparel he also gave away, the remainder the 
bailiffs took. 

"Mr. Latimer quietly suffered his keeper to pull off his 
dose, and his other apparel, which was very simple ; and 
oeing stripped to his shroud, he seemed as comely a 
person as one could well see. 

"Then Dr. Ridley standing as yet in his trousers, said to 
his brother, 'It were best for me to go in my trousers still.' 
' No,' said Mr. Latimer, ' it will put you to more pain : 
and it will do a poor man good.' Whereunto Dr. Ridley 
said, ' Be it in the name of God, and so unlaced himself. 
Then being in his shirt, he stood upon the aforesaid stone, 
and held up his hand and said, ' O heavenly Father, I 
give unto thee most hearty thanks, that thou hast called me 
to be a professor of thee, even unto death ; I beseech thee 
Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England, and de- 
liver it from all her enemies. 

11 The smith then took a chain of iron, and brought it 
about their middles : and as he was knocking in the staple, 
Dr. Ridley took the chain in bis hand, and looking aside to 
t,he smith, said ' Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the 
flesh will have it's course.' Then Mr. Shipside broughi 
him a bag of gunpowder, and tied it about his neck. Dr. 
Ridley asked hi'm what it was, he answered gunpowder 



423 fox's book of martyrs. 

• Then' said he, 'I will take it to be sent of God, therefore 
I will receive it. And have you any,' said he, 'for my 
brother V (meaning Mr. Latimer.) ' Yea, sir, that I have, 
said he. * Then give it unto him,' said he, ' in time, lest 
you come too late.' So his brother went and carried it to 
Mr. Latimer. 

" They then brought a lighted fagot, and laid it at Dr. 
Ridley's feet ; upon which Mr. Latimer said, l Be of good 
comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man, we shall this day 
light such a candle by God's grace in England, as I trust 
never shall be put out.' When Dr. Ridley saw the fire 
flaming up toward him, he cried with an amazing loud 
voice : ' Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit ; 
Lord, receive my spirit ;' and continued often to repeat, 

* Lord, Lord, receive my spirit.' Mr. Latimer, on the 
other side, cried as vehemently, * O father of heaven, re- 
ceive my soul. After which he soon died,, seemingly with 
very little pain. 

" But Dr. Ridley, from the ill-making of the fire, the 
fagots being green, and piled too high, so that the flames 
being kept down by the green wood, burned fiercely be- 
neath, was put to such exquisite pain, that he desired them 
for God's sake, to let the fire come unto him ; which his 
brother-in-law hearing, but not very well understanding, to 
rid him out of his pain, heaped fagots upon him, so that he 
quite covered him, which made the fire so vehement be- 
neath, that it burned all his nether parts before it touched 
the upper, and made him struggle under the fagots, and 
often desire them to let the fire come to him, saying, * I 
cannot burn.' Yet, in all his torment he forgot not to 
call upon God, still having in his mouth, ' Lord have 
mercy upon me,' intermingling his cry, ' Let the fire come 
unto me, I cannot burn.' In which pains he laboured till 
one of the bystanders, with his bill, pulled the fagots from 
above, and where he saw the fire flame up, he wrestled 
himself to that side. And when the fire touched the gun 
powder, he was seen to stir no more, but burned on tin 
other side, failing down at Mr. Latimer's feet ; his bod\ 
being divided. 

** The dreadful sight filled almost every eye with tears. 
Some took it grievously to see their deaths whose lives 
they had held so dear. Some pitied their persons, who 



fox's book of martvrs. 429 

thought their souls had no need thereof. But the sorrow 
of his brother, wnose extreme anxiety had led him to at- 
tempt to put a speedy end to his sufferings, but who, from 
error and confusion, had so unhappily prolonged them, sur- 
passed that of all ; and so violent was his grief, that the 
spectators pitied him almost as much as they did the 
martyr." 

Thus did these two pious divines and steadfast believers, 
testify, with their blood, the truth of the everlasting gospel, 
upon which depends all the sinner's hopes of salvation ; to 
suffer for which was the joy, the glory of many eminent 
Christians, who, having followed their dear Lord and Mas- 
ter, through much tribulation in this vale of tears, will be 
glorified for ever with him, in the kingdom of his father and 
our father, of his God and our God. 



CHAPTE it VI. 

History and Martyrdom of Mr. John Philpot. 

Mr. Philpot was of a* family highly respectable, (his 
father being a knight,) and was born in Hampshire. He 
was brought up at New College, Oxford, where he studied 
civil law and other branches of a liberal education, particu- 
larly the learned languages, and became a great proficient 
in the Hebrew. He was accomplished, courageous, and 
zealons ; ever careful to adorn his doctrine by his prac- 
tice ; and his learning is fully evinced by what he has Jeft 
on record. 

Desirous to travel, he went over to Italy, and journeying 
from Venice to Padua, he was in danger, through a Fran- 
ciscan friar, who accompanied him, and at Padua, sought 
to accuse him of heresy. At length he returned to Eng- 
land, strengthened in his faith, by beholding the absurdities 
and iniquities of Antichrist in his strong hold, and finding 
that the time permitted more boldness unto him, it being 
the reign of Edward, he had several conflicts with bishop 
Gardiner in the city of Winchester. 

After that, he was made archdeacon of Winchester, un- 
der Dr. Poinet, who then succeeded Gardiner in that 



430 

bishopric, and here he continued during the reign of 
Edward, to the great profit of those whom his office placed 
under his care. When that pious prince was taken away, 
and Mary succeeded, her study was wholly to alter the 
state of religion in England : and she caused a convocation 
of the prelates and other retainers of her faith, to be as- 
sembled for the accomplishment of her desire. 

In this convocation, Mr. Philpot, wkh a few others, sus- 
tained the cause of the gospel against the adversary, for 
which, notwithstanding the libert}Mhe house had promised, 
he was called to account before the chancellor, by whom 
he was first examined. From thence again he was re- 
moved to bishop Bonner, and other commissioners, with 
whom he had divers conflicts, the last of which we shall 
give verbatim according to his own statement. 

Conference between Bishop Bonner, Mr. Philpot, and 
other Prisoners. 

Two days after, an hour before it was light, the bishop 
sent for me again by the keeper. 

Keeper. Mr. Philpot arise, you must come to my lord. 

Philpot. I wonder what mjr lord meaneth, that he 
sendeth for me thus early ; I fear he will use some violence 
toward me, wherefore I pray you make him this answer : 
That if he do send for me by an order of law, I will come 
and answer ; otherwise, since I am not of his diocess, 
neither is he my ordinary, I will not, without I be vio- 
lently constrained, come unto him. 

With that, one of them took me by force by the arm, 
pad led me up into the bishop's gallery. 

Bonner. What, thou art a foolish knave indeed ; thou 
wilt not come without thou be fetched. 

Philpot. I am brought indeed, my iord, by violence 
unto you, and your cruelty is such, that I am afraid to 
come before you ; 1 would your lordship would gently 
proceed against me by the law. 

Bonner. I am blamed by the bishops that I have not 
despatched thee ere this ; and am commanded to take a 
further order with thee, and in good faith, if thou, wilt not 
relent, I will make no further delay. Marry, if thou wilt 
Vet be conformable, I will forgive thee all that is past, and 



431 

iliou shah have no hurt for any tiling that is already spoken 
or done. 

Philpot. My lord, I have answered you already in this 
behalf, what I will do. 

Bonner. Hadst thou not a pig brought thee the other 
day with a knife in it? Wherefore was it but to kill thy- 
self? or, as it is told me, (marry I am counselled to 
take heed of thee) to kill me 1 But I fear thee not ; 
1 think I am able to tread thee under my feet, do the best 
thou canst. 

Philpot. My lord, I cannot deny but that there was a 
knife in the pig's belly that was brought me. But who put 
it in, or for what purpose, I know not, unless it were be- 
cause he that sent the meat, thought I was without a knife. 
But other things your lordship needeth not to fear ; for I 
was never without a knife since I came to prison. And 
touching your own person, you shall live long if you should 
live till T go about to kill you ; and I confess, by violence 
vour lordship is able to overcome me. 

Bonner. I charge thee to answer to mine articles. Hold 
nim a book. Thou shalt swear to answer truly to all such 
articles as I shall demand of thee. 

Philpot. I refuse to swear in these causes before your 
lordship, because you are not mine ordinary. 

Bonner. I am thine ordinary, and here do pronounce, 
by sentence peremptory, I am thine ordinary, and that thou 
art of my diocess : (and here he ordered others to be called 
in to bear him witness.) And I make thee (taking one of 
his servants by the arm) to be my notary. And now 
hearken to my articles, to which, when he had read them, 
he admonished me to make answer, and said to the keeper, 
Fetch me his fellows, and I shall make them to be wit- 
nesses against him. 

In the meanwhile came in one of the sheriffs of Lon- 
don, whom the bishop placed by him, saying, Mr. Sheriff, 
i would you should understand how I do proceed against 
this man. Mr. Sheriff, you shall hear what articles this 
man doth mantain ; he then read a rabblement of feigned 
articles : That I should deny baptism to be necessary to 
them that were born of Christian parents, that I denied 
fasting and prayer, and all other good deeds ; that I main- 
tained onlv bare faith to be sufficient to salvation whatso- 



432 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



ever a man did beside, and I maintained God to be the 
author of all sin and wickedness. 

Philpot. Ah, my lord, have you nothing of truth tc 
charge me withal, but you must be fain to imagine these 
blasphemous lies against me ? You might as well have 
said I had killed your father. The scriptures say, " That 
God will destroy all men that speak lies." And is not 
your lordship ashamed to say before this gentleman, (who 
is unknown to me,) that I maintain what you have re- 
hearsed 1 which if I did I were well worthy to be counted 
a heretic, and to be burnt. 

Bonner. Wilt thou answer to them % 

Philpot. I will first know you to be my ordinary, and 
that you may lawfully charge me with such things. 

Bonner. Well, then I will make thy fellows to Se wit- 
nesses against thee : where are they 1 are they cor* el 

Keeper. They are here, my lord. 

Bonner. Come hither, sirs ; (hold them a bocx) you 
shall swear by the contents of that book, that jf^i shall 
say the truth of all such articles as shall be dem ,nded of 
you concerning this man here present, and take j-ou heed 
of him that he doth not deceive you, as I am afraid he 
doth, and strengthened you in your er-ors. 

Prisoners. My lord, we will not swear, except we know 
whereto ; we can accuse him of no evil ; we have been 
but a while acquainted with him. 

Philpot. I wonder your lordship, knowing the law, will 
go about, contrary to the same ; for your lordship doth 
take them to be heretics, and by the law a heretic cannot 
be a witness. 

Bonner. Yes, one heretic against another may be well 
enough. And, Mr. Sheriff, I will make one of them to 
be a witness against another. 

Prisoners. No, my lord. 

Bonner. No ! will you not ? I will make you swear, 
whether you will or no. I think they be anabaptists, Mr. 
Sheriff, they think it not lawful to swear before a judge. 

Philpot. We think it lawful to swear for a man judi 
cially called, as we are not now, but in a blind corner. 

Bonner. Why then, seeing you will not swear against 
your fellow, you shall swear for yourselves, and I do here 
n the presence of Mr. Sheriff, object the same articles 



433 

unto you, as T have done unto him, and require you, undei 
pain of excommunication, to answer particularly unto 
every one of them when you shall be examined, as you 
shall be soon, by my register and some of my chaplains. 

Prisoners. My lord, we will not accuse ourselves. If 
any man can lay anything against us, we are here ready 
to answer thereto : otherwise we pray your lordship not 
to burden us ; for some of us are here before you, we know 
no just cause why. 

Bonne?'. Mr. Sheriff, I will trouble you no longer with 
these fro ward men. And so he rose up, and was going 
away, talking with Mr. Sheriff. 

Philpot. Mr. Sheriff, I pray you record how my lord 
proceedth against us in corners, without all order of law, 
having no just cause to lay against us. And after this, we 
were all commanded to be put in the stocks, where I sat 
from morning until night ; and the keeper at night upon 
favour let me out. 

The Sunday after, the bishop came into the coal-house 
at night, with the keeper, and viewed the house, saying, 
that he was never there before : whereby a man may guess 
how he kept God's commandment in visiting the prisoners. 
Between eight and nine, he sent for me, saying: 

Bonner. Sir, I have great displeasure of the queen and 
founcil for keeping you so long, and letting you have so 
much liberty ; and besides that, you strengthen the other 
prisoners in their errors, as I have laid wait for your 
doings, and am certified of you well enough ; I will se- 
quester you therefore from them, and you shall hurt them 
no more as you have done, and I will out of hand despatch 
you as I am commanded, unless you will be a conformable 
man. 

Philpot. My lord, you have my body in your custody, 
you may transport it whither you please ; I am content. 
And I wish you would make as quick expedition in my 
judgment as you say ; I long for it : and as for con- 
formity, I am ready to yield to all truth, if any can bring 
better than I. 

Bonner. Why, will you believe no man but yourself, 
whatsoever they say? 

Philpot. My belief must not hang upon men's sayings, 
without sure authority of God's word, which if they can 



434 fox's book of martyrs. 

show me, I will be pliant to the same ; otherwise I cannot 
go from my certain faith to that which is uncertain. 

Bonner. Have you then the truth only ? 

Philpot. My lord, I will speak my mind freely unto you 
and upon no malice that I bear to you, before God. You 
have not the truth, neither are you of the church of God ; 
but you persecute both the truth and the true church of 
God, for which cause you cannot prosper long. You see 
God doth not prosper your doings according to your expec- 
tations : he hath of late showed his just judgment against 
one of your greatest doers, who, by reports, died misera- 
bly. I envy not the authority you are in. You that have 
learning, should know best how to rule. And seeing God 
hath restored you to your dignity and living again, use the 
same to God's glory, and to the setting forth of his true 
religion ; othc wise it will not continue, do what you can. 
With this sayi r he paused, and at length said : 

Bonner. Tha ^ood man was punished for such as thou 
art. Where is the keeper? Come, let him have him to 
the place that is provided for him. Go your way before. 

He then followed me, calling the keeper aside, com- 
manding him to keep all men from me, and narrowly to 
search me, commanding two of his men to accompany the 
keeper to see me placed. 

I afterward passed through St. Paul's, up to Lollards' 
Tower, and after that turned along the west side of St. 
Paul's through the wall, and passing through six or seven 
doors, came to my lodging through many straits ; where I 
called to remembrance, that strait is the way to heaven. 
And it is in a tower, right on the other side of Lollards' 
Tower, as high almost as the battlements of St. Paul's, 
eight feet in breadth, and thirteen in length, and almost 
over the prison where I was before, having a window 
opening toward the east, by which I could look over the 
tops of a great many houses, but saw no man passing into 
them. 

And as I came to my place, the keeper took off my 
gown, searched me very narrowly, and took away a pen 
case, ink-horn, girdle, and knife, but (as God would have 
it) I had an inkling a little before I was called, of my re- 
moval, and thereupon made an errand to the stool, where 
full b,ore against my will, I cast away many a friendl\ 



Fox's BOOK OP MARTYRS. 435 

letter: but that which T had written of my last examina- 
tion before, 1 thrust into my hose, thinking the next day 
to have made an end thereof, and with walking it was 
fallen down to my leg, which be by feeling soon found out, 
and asked what that was. 1 said, they were certain let- 
ters : and with that he was very busy to have them out. 
Let me alone, said I, I will take them out : with that I 
pui my hand, having two other letters therein, and brought 
iij) the same writing into my breeches, and there left it, 
giving him the other two that were not of any importance: 
which to make a show that they had been weighty, I be- 
gan to tear as well as I could, till they snatched them from 
me; and so deluded him of his purpose. 

Then he went away, and as he was going, one of them 
that came with him, said that I did not deliver the writing 
I had in my house, but two other letters I had in my hand 
before. Did he not? says he, I will go and search him 
better : which I hearing, conveyed my examination I had 
written, into another place near my bed, and took all my 
letters I had in my purse, and was tearing of them when 
he came again, and as he came, threw the same out of 
the window, saying, That I heard what he said. By this, 
I prevented his searching any further. 

This zealous servant of God still continued to be held in 
suspense, and underwent seven more examinations, being 
combated with all the learning and sophistry of the various 
heads of the corrupted church ; but armed with truth, he 
bravely stood the test, and proved himself to he founded 
on a rock. 

To relate the whole of the examinations, would only be 
a tedious repetition of the insolence of Bonner, of the pride 
and arrogance of the other bishops, and of points of dis- 
pute, already discussed. We, therefore, proceed to his 
fourteenth and final examination. 

Bishop Bonner having wearied himself with repeated 
conferences with our Christian champion ; by turns in- 
sulting, threatening, and exhorting him, with equally hope- 
less effect, at length resolved to terminate the contest. 
Accordingly, on the 13th of December, he ordered him to 
be brought before him and others, in the consistory of St. 
Paul's, and thus addressed him : 

44 Mr. Philpot, among other things that were laid and 



436 fox's book op martyrs. 

objected against you, these three you were j, rincipallj 
charged with. 

" The first is, that you being fallen from the unity of 
Christ's Catholic church, do refuse to be reconciled 
thereunto. 

" The second is, That you have blasphemously spokeo 
against the sacrifice of the mass, calling it idolatry. 

" And the third is, That you have spoken against the 
sacrament of the altar, denying the real presence of Christ'a 
body and blood to be in the same. 

" And according to the will and pleasure of the synod 
legislative, you have been often by me invited and required 
to go from your said errors and heresies, and to return to 
the unity of the Catholic church, which, if you will now 
willingly do, you shall be mercifully and gladly received, 
charitably used, and have all the favour I can show you 
And now, to tell you true, it is assigned and appointed mt 
to give sentence against you, if you stand herein and will 
not return. Wherefore if you so refuse, I do ask of you 
whether you have any cause that you can show why I now 
should not give sentence against you. 

Philpot. Under protestation, not to go from my appeal 
that I have made, and also not to consent to you as my 
competent judge, I say, respecting your first objection 
concerning the Catholic church, I neither was nor am out 
of the same. And as to the sacrifice of the mass, and the 
sacrament of the altar, I never spoke against the same. 
And as concerning the pleasure of the synod, I say, that 
these twenty years I have been brought up in the faith of 
the true Catholic church, which is contrary to your church, 
whereunto you would have me to come : and in that time I 
have been many times sworn, both in the reign of Henry 
VIII. and of Edward VI. his son, against the usurped 
power of the bishop of Rome, which oath I think I am 
bound in my conscience to keep, because I must oerform 
unto the Lord mine oath. But if you, or any of the synod, 
can, by God's word, persuade me that my oath was unlaw- 
ful, and that I am bound by God's law to come to your 
church, faith, and religion, I will gladly yield unto you, 
otherwise not. 

Bonner, then, not able with all his learned doctors to ac- 



fox's book op martyrs. 437 

complish this offered condition, had recourse, as usual, 
to promises and threats ; to which Mr. Philpot answered : 

41 You, and all other of your sort, are hypocrites, and I 
wish all the world knew your hypocrisy, your tyranny, ig- 
norance, and idolatry." 

Upon these words the bishop dismissed him, com- 
manding that on Monday, the 16th of the same month 
lie should again be brought thither, there to have the de- 
finitive sentence of condemnation pronounced against him, 
if he then remained resolved. 

The day being come, Mr. Philpot was presented be- 
fore the bishops of London, Bath, Worcester, and Lich 
field ; when the former thus began : 

Bonner. My lords, Stokesly, my predecessor, when he 
went to give sentence against a heretic, used to make this 
prayer : 

Deus qui errantibus, ut in viam possint redire, justifies 
veritatisque tucB lumen ostendis, de cunctis qui Christiana 
professions censentur, et ilia respuere qua hide inimica 
sint nomini, et ea quce sint apta sectari per Christum Do- 
minum nostrum. Amen. Which I will follow. And so he 
read it with a loud voice in Latin. 

Philpot. I wish you would speak in English, that all 
men might understand you; for St. Paul willeth, that all 
things spoken in the congregation to edify, should be spo- 
ken in a tongue that all men might understand. 

Whereupon the bishop read it in English. 

44 O God, whoshowest the light of thy truth and righteous- 
ness to those that stray, that they may return into thy way, 
give to all who profess themselves Christians, to refuse 
those things which are foes to thy name, and to follow 
those things which are fit, by Christ our Lord. Amen." 
And when he came to these words, " To refuse those 
things which are foes to thy name," Mr. Philpot said, 

" Then they all must turn away from you ; for you are 
enemies to that name." 

Bonner. Whom do you mean ? 

Philpot. You, and all of your generation and sect. 
And I am sorry to see you sit in the place that you now 
sit in, pretending to execute justice, and to do nothing less 
but deceive all in this realm. And then turning himself 
unto the people, he said, " O all you gentlemen, beware 

37* 



438 

of these men, and their doings, which are contrary to Urn 
primitive church. And I would know of you, my lord, 
by what authority you proceed against me." 

Bonner. Because I am bishop of London. 

Philpot. Well, then you are not my bishop, nor have 
I offended in your diocess ; and, moreover, I have appealed 
from you, and, therefore, by your own law you ought not to 
proceed against me, especially being brought hither from 
another place by violence. 

Bonner. Why, who sent you hither to me \ 

Philpot. Dr. Story and Dr. Cook, with other com- 
missioners of the king and queen : and, my lord, is it not 
enough for you to worry your own sheep, but you must 
also meddle with other men's "? 

The bishop then delivered two books to Mr. Philpot, one 
of the civil, and the other of the canon law, from which he 
would have proved that he had authority to proceed against 
him. Mr. Philpot perusing them, and seeing the slender 
proof that was there alleged, said to the bishop : " I perceive 
your law and divinity are all one ; for you have knowledge 
in neither of them ; and I wish you knew your own igno- 
rance : but you dance in a net and think that no man doth 
see you." Hereupon they had much talk. At last Bon- 
ner said unto him : 

" Philpot, as concerning your objections against my ju- 
risdiction, you shall understand that both the civil and 
canon laws make against you ; and as for your appeal, it 
is not allowed in this case : for it is written in the law, 
There is no appeal from a judge executing the sentence 
of the law." 

Philpot. My lord, it appeareth by your interpretation 
of the law, that you do not understand it: for if you did, 
you would not bring in that text. 

Hereupon the bishop recited a law of the Romans, That 
it was not lawful for a Jew to keep a Christian in captivity 
and to use him as a slave, laying to Philpot's charge that 
he did not understand the law, but did like a Jew. Where- 
unto Philpot answered : 

" No, I am no Jew, but you, my lord, are a Jew. For 
you profess Christ, and maintain Antichrist ; you profess 
the gospel, and maintain superstition, and you are able to 
charge ine with nothing." 



pox's book of martyrs 439 

Bonner and another bishop. With what can ye harge 
as? 

Philpot. You are enemies to all truth, and all your 
doings are lull of idolatry, saving the article of the Trinity. 

While they were thus debating, there came thither sir 
William Garret, mayor of London, sir Martin Bowes, and 
Thomas Leigh, sheriff of the same city, and sat down with 
the bishops in the consistory. 

They were no sooner seated than Bonner again ad- 
dressed Mr. Philpot, with the prayer, and again repeated 
the charge against him ; after which he addressed him in 

formal exhortation, which he had no sooner ended than 
Mr. Philpot turned himself to the lord mayor, and said : 

Philpot. I am glad, my lord, now to stand before that 
authority, that hath defended the gospel and the truth of 
God's word : but I am sorry to see that that authority, 
which representeth the king and queen's persons, should 
now be changed, and be at the command of Antichrist ; 
and I am glad that God hath given me power to stand 
here this da}', to declare and defend my faith, which is 
founded on Christ. Therefore, turning to the bishops, 
as touching your first objection, I say, that I am of the 
Catholic church ; whereof I never was out, and that your 
church is the church of Rome, and so the Babylonical, and 
not the Catholic church ; of that church I am not. As 
touching your second objection, which is, that I spoke 
against the sacrifice of the mass ; I do say, that I have 
not spoken against the true sacrifice, but I have spoken 
against your private masses that you use in corners which 
is blasphemy to the true sacrifice ; for your daily sacri- 
fice is reiterated blasphemy against Christ's death, and 
is a lie of your own iuvention ; and that abominable sa- 
crifice, which you set upon the altar, and use in your own 
private masses, instead of the living sacrifice, is idolatry. 
Thirdly, where you lay to my charge, that I deny the 
body and blood of Christ to be in the sacrament of the 
altar, I cannot tell what altar you mean, whether it be the 
altar of the cross, or the altar of stone : and if you call it 
the sacrament of the altar in respect of the altar of stone, 
<hen I defy your Christ, for it is a false crie. And as 
touching your transubstantiation, I utterly deny it, for it 
was first brought up by a pope. Now as concerning youi 



440 fox's boo : of martyrs. 

offer made from the synod, which is gathered together iu 
Antichrist's name ; prove to me that you be of the Catholic 
church, which you never can, and I will follow you, 
and do as you would have me. But you are idolaters 
and traitors ; for in your pulpits ye rail against good things, 
as king Henry and Edward his son, who have stood the 
usurped power of the pope of Rome : against whom I 
have also taken an oath, which if you can show me by 
God's law that I have taken unjustly, I will then yield unto 
you : but I pray God turn the king and queen's heart from 
your synagogue and church. 

Coventry, In our Catholic church are the apostles, 
evangelists, and martyrs ; but before Martin Luther there 
was no apostle, evangelist, or martyr of your church. 

Philpot. AVill you know the cause why 1 Christ did 
prophesy that in the latter days there should come false 
prophets and hypocrites, as you are. 

Coventry. Your church of Geneva, which you call the 
Catholic church, is that which Christ prophesied of. 

Philpot. I allow the church of Geneva, and the doc- 
trine of the same, for it is Catholic and apostolic, and doth 
follow the doctrine which the apostles preached. 

Bonner. My lord, this man had a roasted pig brought 
unto him, and this knife was put secretly between the skin 
and flesh thereof. And also this powder, under pretence 
that it was good and comfortable for him to eat and drink ; 
which powder was only to make ink to write withal. Foi 
when his keeper perceived it, he took it and brought it 
unto me : which when I saw I thought it had been gun- 
powder, and thereupon put fire to it, but it would not burn 
Then I took it for poison, and so gave it to a dog, but it 
was not so. I then took a little water, and made as good 
ink as ever I did write withal. Therefore, my lord, you 
may understand what a naughty fellow this is. 

Philpot. Ah, my lord, have you nothing else to charge 
me withal, but these trifles, seeing I stand upon life and 
death. Doth the knife in the pig prove the church of 
Rome to be the Catholic church 1 

Then the bishop brought forth a certain instrument, con- 
taining articles and questions, agreed upon both in Ox- 
ford and Cambridge. Also he exhibited two books in 
print; the one was the catechism composed in king 



OF MARTYRS. 441 

Edward's days in the year 1552, the other concerning the 

report of the disputation in the convocation house, mention 
whereof is above expressed. Moreover, he brought forth 
two Utters, and laid them to Mr. Philpot's charge ; the one 
was addressed to him by a friend, complaining of the 
bishop's ill usage of a young man named Bartlet Green • 
the other was a consolatory letter from Lady Vane. Be- 
side these, was introduced a memorial drawn up by Mr. 
Philpot, to the queen and parliament, stating the iregula- 
rity of his being brought to bishop Bonner, he not being of 
his diocess ; also complaining of the severity of his treat- 
ment. 

These books letters, supplications, <fec. having been 
-ead, the bishop demanded of him, if the book entitled, 
* The true report of the disputation, &c," were of his 
penning, or not? To this- Mr. Philpot answered in the af- 
firmative. 

The bishops growing weary, and not being able to con- 
vince and overcome him, began with flattering speech to 
persuade him : promising, if he would revoke his opinions, 
and return to their Romish church, he would not only be 
pardoned that which was past, but they would, also, re- 
ceive him again as a true member thereof. But when 
Bonner found that it would take no effect, he demanded of 
Mr. Philpot, whether he had any just cause to allege why 
he should not condemn him as a heretic. " Well," quoth 
Mr. Philpot, " your idolatrous sacrament, which you have 
found out, you would fain defend, but } 7 ou cannot, nor 
ever shall." 

In the end the bishop, seeing his steadfastness in the 
truth, openl}' pronounced the sentence of condemnation 
against him. In the reading whereof, when he came to 
these, words, " and you, an obstinate, pernicious, and im- 
penitent heretic," &c. Mr. Philpot said, ." I thank God 
that 1 am c. heretic out of your cursed church ; I am n 
heretic before God. But God bless you, and give yo 
grace to repent your wicked doings." 

When Bonner was about the midst of the sentence, the 
bishop of Bath pulled him b}^ the sleeve, and said, " My 
ord, my lord, know of him first whether he will recant or 
not." " O, le4 him alone :" said he ; and so read forth the 
sentence. 



442 



OF MARTYRS. 



When he had concluded, he delivered him to the she- 
riffs ; and so two officers brought him through the bishop's 
house into Paternoster-row, where his servant met him, 
and when he saw him, he said, " Ah, dear master !'* 

"Content thyself," said Mr. Philpot, " I shall do well 
,nough ; for thou shalt see me again." 

The officers then took him to Newgate, where they de- 
livered him to the keeper. Then his man strove to go in 
after his master, and one of the officers said unto him, 
" Hence, fellow what wouldst thou have?" And he said, 
" I would speak with my master." Mr. Philpot then turned 
about, and said to him, " To-morrow thou shalt speak 
with me." 

When the keeper understood it to be his servant, he 
gave him leave to go in with him. And Mr. Philpot and 
his man were turned into a chamber on the right hand, 
and there remained a short time, when the chief keeper 
came unto him ; who said, " Ah, hast thou not done 
well to bring thyself hither?" "Well," said Mr. Philpot, 
" I must be content, for it is God's appointment ; and I 
shall desire you to let me have your gentle favour, for you 
and I have been of old acquaintance. 

" If you will recant," said the keeper, " I will show you 
any pleasure I can." — " Nay," said Mr. Philpot, " I will 
never recant that which I have spoken, while I have life, 
for it is most certain truth, and in witness thereof, I will 
seal it with my blood." Then the keeper said, " This is 
the saying of the whole pack of you heretics." Where- 
upon he commanded him to be set upon the block, and as 
many irons to be put upon his legs as he could bear. 

Upon Tuesday, the 17th of December, while he was at 
supper, there came a messenger from the sheriffs, and bade 
Mr. Philpot make ready, for the next day he should suffer, 
and be burned at a stake. Mr. Philpot answered, "I am 
ready; God grant me strength and a joyful resurrection." 
And so be went into his chamber, and poured out his spirit 
unto the Lord God, giving him most hearty thanks, that he 
had made him worthy to suffer for his truth. 

In the morning the sheriffs came according to order 
about eight o'clock, and calling for him, he most joyfully 
tame down to them. And there his man met him, and 
said, " Ah, dear master, farewell." His master answered, 



FOX*S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 443 

" Serve God, and lie will help thee." And so he went 
witli the sheriffs to the place of execution ; and when he 
was entering into Smithfield, the way was foul, and two offi- 
cers took him up to hear him to the stake. Then he said 
merrily, " What, will you make me a pope 1 I am content 
to go to my journey's end on foot." But on entering into 
Smithfield, he kneeled down, and said, "I will pay my 
vows in thee, O Smithfield." 

On arriving at the place of suffering, he kissed the stake, 
and said, " Shall I disdain to suffer at this stake, seeing my 
Redeemer did not refuse to suffer the most vile death upon 
the cross for me ?" And then with an obedient heart he 
repeated the 106th, 107th, and 108th Psalms: and when 
he had made an end of all his prayers, he said to the officers, 
" What have you done for me ?"■ And when they severally 
declared what they had done, he gave money to them. 

They then bound him to the stake, and lighted the fire, 
when the blessed martyr soon resigned his soul into the 
hands of him who gave it. 



CHAPTER VIL 

Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, who was burnt at Oxford, March 2lsi, 1556. 

This eminent prelate was born at Aslacton, in Notting 
hamshire, on the 2d of July, 1489. His family was ancient, 
and came in with William the Conqueror. He was early 
deprived of his father, and, after a common school educa- 
tion, was sent by his mother to Cambridge, at the age of 
fourteen, according to the custom of those times. 

Having completed his studies at the university, he took the 
usual degrees, and was chosen fellow of Jesus college. In 
152.1 he married, by which he forfeited his fellowship : but 
his wife dying within a year after his marriage, he was 
re-elected. This favour he gratefully acknowledged, and 
declined an offer of a more valuable fellowship in cardinal 
Wolsey's new seminary at Oxford, rather than relinquish 
friends who had treated him with such respect. 

In 1523 he commenced doctor of divinity ; and being 



444 

in great esteem for theological learning, he was chosen 
divinit} 7 lecturer in his own college, and appointed, by the 
university, one of the examiners in that science. In this 
office he inculcated the study of the scriptures, then 
greatly neglected, as being indispensable for the professors 
of that divine knowledge. 

The plague breaking out at Cambridge, Mr. Cranmer, 
with some of his pupils, removed to Waltham-abbey, where, 
meeting with Gardiner and Fox, one the secretary, the 
other almoner of Henry VIII. that monarch's intended 
divorce of Catharine, the common subject of discourse in 
those days, was mentioned : when Cranmer advising an 
application to the universities, for their opinion in the case, 
they introduced him to the king, who was so pleased with 
him, that he ordered him to write his thoughts on the sub- 
ject, made him his chaplain, and admitted him into that 
favour and esteem, which he never afterward forfeited. 

In 1530 he was sent by the king to dispute on the sub- 
ject of the divorce, at Paris, Rome, and other foreign parts. 
At Rome he delivered his book, which he had written in 
defence of the divorce, to the pope, and offered to justify 
it in a public disputation : but after various appointments 
none appeared to oppose him ; while, in private conferences, 
he forced them to confess that the marriage was contrary 
to the law of God. The pope constituted him penitentiary- 
general of England, and dismissed him. 

During the time he was abroad, archbishop Warham 
died : Henry, convinced of Cranmer's merit, determined 
that he should succeed him : and commanded him to return 
for that purpos-e. He was desirous, by all means, to decline 
this high station, for he had a true and primitive sense of 
the office, but a spirit so different from that of the church- 
men of his times, stimulated the king's resolution ; and the 
more reluctance Cranmer showed, the greater resolution 
Henry exerted. He was consecrated on March 30th, 1533, 
to the office ; and though he received the usual bulls from 
the pope, he protested, at his consecration, against the 
oath of allegiance, &c. to him. 

The first service he did the king in his archiepiscopal 
character, was pronouncing the sentence of his divorce 
from Catharine : and the next was joining his hand with 
Anne Boleyn, the consequence of which marriage was the 



FOX'S ROOK (TV MARTYRS. 445 

Dirth of the glorious Elizabeth, to whom he stood god- 
father. 

As the queen was greatly interested in the reformation, the 
friends to that good work hegan to conceive high hopes ; 
and, indeed, it went on with desirable success. But 
the fickle disposition of the king, and the fatal end of 
the unhappy Anne, for awhile alarmed their fears ; though, 
by GoJ's providence, without any ill effects. The pope's 
supremacy was universally exploded ; monasteries, &c. 
destroyed, upon the fullest detection of the most abominable 
vices existing in them ; that valuable book of the " Erudi- 
tion of a Christian Man," was set forth by our great arch- 
bishop, with public authority ; and the sacred scriptures, 
at length, to the infinite joy of Cranmer, and of lord Crom- 
well, his constant friend and associate, were not only trans- 
lated, but introduced into every parish. The translation was 
received with inexpressible joy : every one that was able, 
purchased it, and the poor flocked greedily to hear it read, 
some persons in years learned to read on purpose that they 
might peruse it, and even little children crowded with 
eagerness to hear it ! 

A short time after this, he gave a shining proof of his 
disinterested constancy, by his opposition to Henry's " Six 
Articles," described in a former part of this volume. How- 
ever, he weathered the storm, and published, with air in- 
comparable preface, written by himself, the larger Bible ; 
six of which, even Bonner, then newly consecrated bishop 
of London, caused to be fixed, for the perusal of the people, 
in his cathedral of St. Paul's. 

The enemies of the reformation, however, were restless, 
and Henry, alas ! was no protestant in his heart. Cromwell 
fell a sacrifice to them ; and they aimed their malignant 
shafts at Cranmer. Gardiner, in particular, was indefati- 
gable : he caused him to be accused in parliament, and 
several lords of the privy council moved the king to com- 
mit the archbishop to the tower. The king perceived 
their malice ; and one evening, on pretence of diverting 
himself on the water, ordered his barge to be rowed to Lam- 
beth. The archbishop, being informed of it, came down 
to pay his respects, and was ordered, by the king, to come 
into the barge, and sit close by him. Henry made him 
acquainted with the accusations which were laid against 

38 



446 

him ; and spoke of his opposition to the six articles ; the 
archbishop acknowledged himself to be of the same opinion, 
with respect to them. The king then, putting on an air 
of pleasantry, asked him, if his bed chamber could stand 
the test of these articles'? The archbishop confessed that 
he was married in Germany, before his promotion ; but 
assured the king, that, on the passing of that act, he had 
parted with his wife, and sent her abroad to her friends. 
His majesty was so charmed with his openness and integrity 
that he discovered the whole plot that was laid against 
him ; and gave him a ring of great value to produce upon 
any future emergency. 

A few days after this, Cranmer's enemies summoned 
him to appear before the council. He accordingly attend- 
ed, when they suffered him to wait in the lobby, among 
the servants, treated him on his admission with haughty con- 
tempt, and would have sent him to the Tower. But 
he produced the ring, which changed their tone ; and, 
while his enemies received a severe reprimand from Henry, 
Cranmer himself gained the highest degree of favour. 

On this occasion he showed that lenity and mildness for 
which he was always so much distinguished: he never perse- 
cuted any of his enemies ; but, on the contrary, freely forgave 
even the inveterate Gardiner, on his writing a supplica- 
tory letter to him. The same lenity he showed toward 
Dr. Thornton, the suffragan of Dover, and Dr. Barber, 
who, though entertained in his family, intrusted with his 
secrets, and indebted to him for many favours, had ungrate- 
fully conspired with Gardiner to take away his life. 

When Cranmer first discovered their treachery, he took 

them aside into his study, and telling them, that he had 

een falsely accused by some in whom he had always 

posed the greatest confidence, desired them to advise 
how he should behave himself toward them 1 They 
lied, that " such abandoned villains ought to be prose- 
cuted with the greatest rigour : nay, deserved to die with- 
out mercy." At this the archbishop, lifting up his hands 
to heaven, cried out, " Merciful God ! whom may a man 
trust !" And then taking out of his bosom the letters by 
vvnich he had discovered their treachery, asked them, if they 
knew those papers? When they saw their own letters 
produced against them, thev were in the utmost confusion; 



FOX*S BOOK OF MAR? YRS. 447 

and tailing down upon their knees, humbly sued for for- 
giveness. The archbishop toid ihein, *' that he forgave 
them, and would pray for them; but that ihey must not 
expect him ever to trust them for the future." 

In 1547, Henry died, and left his crown to his only son, 
Edward, who was godson to Cranmer, and had imbibed 
all the spirit of a reformer. This excellent young prince, 
influenced no less by his own inclinations than by the ad- 
vice of Cranmer, and the other friends of the reformation, 
was diligent in every endeavour to promote it. Homilies 
and a catechism were composed by the archbishop ; Eras- 
mus' notes on the New Testament were translated and 
fixed in churches ; the sacrament was administered in both 
kinds, and the liturgy was read in the vulgar tongue. 
Ridley, the archbishop's great friend, and one of ihe 
brightest lights of the English reformation, was equally 
zealous in the good cause ; and in concert with him the 
archbishop drew up the forty-two articles of religion, which 
were revised by other bishops and divines : as, through 
him, he had perfectly conquered all his scruples respecting 
the doctrine of the corporeal presence, and published a 
much esteemed treatise, entitled, " A Defence of the True 
and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and 
Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

But this happy scene of prosperity was not to continue . 
God was pleased to deprive the nation of Edward, in 
1553, designing, in his wise providence, to perfect the 
new-born church of his son Jesus Christ in England by 
the blood of martyrs, as at the beginning he perfected the 
church in general. 

Anxious for the success of the reformation, and wrought 
upon by the artifices of the Duke of Northumberland, 
Edward had been persuaded to exclude his sisters, and to 
bequeath the crown to that duke's amiable and every way 
deserving daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane Grey. The 
archbishop did his utmost to oppose this alteration in the 
succession, but was over-ruled ; the will was made, and 
subscribed by the council and the judges. The archbishop 
was sent for, last of all, and required to subscribe ; but 
he answered that he could not do so without perjury ; 
having sworn to the entail of the crown on the two prin- 
cesses Mary and Elizabeth. To this the king replied 



448 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



" that the judges, who, being best skilled in the constitu- 
tion, ought to be regarded on this point, had assured him, 
that notwithstanding that entail, he might lawfully bequeath 
the crown to Lady Jane." The archbishop desired to dis- 
course with them himself about it ; and they all agreeing 
that he might lawfully subscribe the king's will, he was at 
.ist prevailed with to resign his own private scruples to 
their authority, and set his hand to it. 

Having done this, he thought himself obliged in con- 
science to join the lady Jane : but her short-lived power 
soon expired ; when Mary and persecution mounted the 
throne, and Cranmer could expect nothing less than what 
ensued — attainder, imprisonment, deprivation, and death. 

He was condemned for treason, and, with pretended 
clemency, pardoned ; but, to gratify Gardiner's malice, 
and her own implacable resentment against him for her 
mother's divorce, Mary gave orders to proceed against 
him for heresy. His friends, who foresaw the storm, had 
advised him to consult his safety by retiring beyond sea ; 
but he chose rather to continue steady to the cause, which 
he had hitherto so nobly supported ; and preferred the 
probability of sealing his testimony with his blood, to an 
ignominious flight. 

The tower was crowded with prisoners ; insomuch that 
Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Bradford, were all put into 
one chamber ; which they were so far from thinking an 
inconvenience, that, on the contrary, they blessed God for 
flie opportunity of conversing together : reading and cora- 
oaring the scriptures, confirming themselves in the true 
faith, and mutually exhorting each other to constancy in 
professing it, and patience in suffering for it. 

In April, 1554, the archbishop, with bishops Ridley and 
Latimer, was removed from the tower to Windsor, and 
from thence to Oxford, to dispute with some select persons 
of both universities. But how vain are disputations, 
where the fate of men is fixed, and every word is miscon- 
strued ! And such was the case here ; for, on April the 
20th, Cranmer was brought to St. Mary's, before the 
queen's commissioners, and refusing to subscribe to the 
popish articles, he was pronounced a heretic, and sentence 
of condemnation was passed upon him. Upon which he 
told them, that he appealed from their unjust sentence to 



FOx's ROCK OF MARTYRS. 449 

that of the Almighty ; and that he trusted to be received 
into his presence in heaven for maintaining the truth, as 
set forth in his most holy gospel. 

After this his servants were dismissed from their attend- 
ance, and himself closely confined in Bocardo, the prison 
of the city of Oxford. But this sentence being void in 
law, as the pope's authority was wanting, a new commis- 
sion was sent from Rome in 1555 ; and in St. Mary's 
church, at the high altar, the court sat and tried the 
already condemned Cranmer. He was here well nigh too 
strong for his judges ; and if reason and truth could have 
prevailed, there would have been no doubt who should 
have been acquitted, and who condemned. 

The February following, a new commission was given 
to bishop Bonner and bishop Thirlby, for the degradation 
of the archbishop. When they came down to Oxford he 
was brought before them ; and after they had read their 
commission from the pope, (for not appearing before whom 
in person, as they had cited him, he was declared contu- 
macious, though they themselves had kept him a close 
prisoner) Bonner, in a scurrilous oration, insulted over 
him in the most unchristian manner, for which he was 
often rebuked by bishop Thirlhy, who wept, and declared 
it the most sorrowful scene he had ever beheld in his whole 
life. In the commission it was declared, that the cause 
had been impartially heard at Rome, the witnesses on 
both sides examined, and the archbishop's counsel allowed 
to make the best defence for him they could. 

At the reading this, the archbishop could not help cry- 
ing out, " Good God ! what lies are these; that I, being 
continually in prison, and not suffered to have counsel or 
advocate at home, should produce witnesses, and appoint 
my counsel at Rome ! God must needs punish this shame- 
less and open lying !" 

When Bonner had finished his invective, they proceeded 
to degrade him ; and that they might make him as ridicu- 
lous as they could, the episcopal habit which they put on 
him was made of canvas and old rags. Bonner, in the 
mean time, by way of triumph and mockery, calling him 
" Mr. Canterbury," and the like. 

He bore all this treatment with his wonted fortitude and 
patience ; told them, "the degradation gave him no con 

5*«# 



45$ fOX*8 iOOk Of MART*R& 

cern, for he had long despised those ornaments ;** hut 
when they came to take away his crosier, he held it fast, 
and delivered his appeal to Thirlby saying, " I appeal tc 
the next general council." 

When they had stripped him of all his habits, they put 
on him a poor yeoman-beadle's gown, thread-bare and ill- 
shaped, and a townsman's cap ; and in this manner deli- 
vered him to the secular power to be carried back to 
prison, where he was kept entirely destitute of money, and 
totally secluded from his friends. Nay, such was tlie furj 
of his enemies, that a gentleman was taken into custodv 
by Bonner, and narrowly escaped a trial, for giving the 
Door archbishop money to buy him a dinner. 

Cranmer had now been imprisoned almost three years, 
and death should have soon followed his sentence and de- 
gradation ; but his cruel enemies reserved him for greater 
misery and insult. Every engine that could be thought of 
was employed to shake his constancy ; but he held fast to 
the profession of his faith. Nay, even when he saw the 
barbarous martyrdom of his dear companions Ridley and 
Latimer, he was so far from shrinking, that he not only 
prayed to God to strengthen them, but also, by th«ir ex- 
ample, to animate him to a patient expectation and endu- 
rance of the same fiery trial. 

The papists, after trying various severe ways to bring 
Cranmer over, without effect, at length determined to try 
what gentle methods would do. They accordingly re- 
moved him from prison to the lodgings of the dean of 
Christ-ehurch, where they urged every persuasive and 
affecting argument to make him deviate from his faith ; 
and, indeed, too much melted his gentle nature, by the 
false sunshine of pretended civility and respect. 

The unfortunate prelate, however, withstood every temp- 
tation, at which his enemies were so irritated, that they 
removed him from the dean's lodgings to the most loath- 
some part of the prison in which he had been confined, 
and then treated him with unparalleled severity. This was 
more than the infirmities of so old a man could support : 
the frailty of human nature prevailed ; and he was induced 
to sign the following recantation, drawn from him by the 
malices and artifices of his enemies. 

11 1) Thomas Cranmer, late archbishop of Canterbury, 



POX S BOOK OP MARTYttS. 451 

do renounce and abhor, and detest, all manner of heresies 
and errors of Luther and Zuinglius, and all other teachings 
which are contrary to sound and true doctrine. And 1 
believe most constantly in my heart, and with my mouth I 
confess one holy and Catholic church visible, without 
which there is no salvation ; and thereof I acknowledge 
the bishop of Rome to be supreme head in earth, whom 
I acknowledge to be the highest bishop and pope, and 
Christ's vicar, unto whom all Christian people ought to be 
subject. 

" And as concerning the sacraments, I believe and wor- 
ship in the sacrament of the altar the very body and blood 
of Christ, being contained most truly under the forms of 
bread and wine ; the bread through the mighty power of 
God being turned into the body of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
and the wine into his blood. 

"And in the other six sacraments, also, like as in this e 
I believe and hold as the universal church holdeth, and the 
church of Rome judgeth and determineth. 

" Furthermore, I believe that there is a place of purga- 
tory, where souls departed be . punished for a time, for 
whom the church doth godly and wholesomely pray, like 
as it doth honour saints and make prayers to them. 

" Finally, in all things I profess, that I do not otherwise 
believe, than the Catholic church and church of Rome 
holdeth and teacheth. I am sorry that ever I held or 
thought otherwise. And I beseech Almighty God, that of 
his mercy he will vouchsafe to forgive me, whatsoever I 
have offended against God or his church, and also I desire 
and beseech all Christian people to pray for me. 

" And all such as have been deceived either by mine 
example or doctrine, I require them, by the blood of Jesus 
Christ, that they will return to the unity of the church, 
that we may be all of one mind, without schism or division. 

" And to conclude, as I submit myself to the Catholic 
church of Christ, and to the supreme head thereof, so I 
submit myself unto the most excellent majesties of Philip 
and Mary, king and queen of this realm of England, &c. 
and to all other their laws and ordinances, being ready 
always as a faithful subject ever to obey them. And God 
is my witness, that I have not done this for favour or fear 
of any person, but willingly and of mine own conscience, 
as to the instruction of others " 



452 pox's book op martyrs. 

This recantation was immediately printed, and distri 
buted throughout the country, and to establish its authen- 
ticity, first was added the name of Thomas Cranmer, with 
a solemn subscription, then followed the witnesses of his 
recantation, Henry Sydal and friar John de Villa Garcir- 
na. All this time Cranmer had no certain assurance of 
his life, although it was promised to him by the doctors : 
DUt after they had gained their purpose, the rest they com- 
mitted to chance, as usual with men of their religion. The 
queen, having now found a time to revenge her old grudge 
against him, received his recantation very gladly, but 
would not alter her intention of putting him to death, taking 
secret counsel how to despatch him out of the way. She 
appointed Dr. Cole to prepare a funeral sermon for Cran- 
mer's burning, against the 21st of March ensuing. 

Soon after, lord Williams, of Tame, lord Shandois, sir 
Thomas Bridges, and sir John Brown, were sent for, and 
commanded in the queen's name to be at Oxford on the 
same day, with their servants and retinue, lest Cranmer's 
death should raise there any tumult. 

Dr. Cole the day before the execution took place, came 
into the prison to Dr. Cranmer, to try whether he abode 
in the Catholic faith, to whom Cranmer answered, that by 
God's grace he would be daily more confirmed in the 
Catholic faith ; Cole departing for that time, the next day 
following repaired to the archbishop again, giving no sig- 
nification as yet of his death that was prepared. And 
therefore in the morning, which was the 21st day of March, 
appointed for Cranmer's execution, Cole coming to him, 
asked him if be had any money, to whom, when he had 
answered that lie had none, he delivered fifteen crowns to 
give to the poor, to whom he would : and so exhorting him 
as much as he could to constancy in faith, departed thence 
about his business, as to his sermon appertained. 

By this, and other like arguments, the archbishop began 
more and more to surmise what they were about. Then 
because the day was not far spent, and the lords and 
knights that were looked for were not yet come, there came 
to him the Spanish friar, witness of his recantation, bring- 
ing articles, which Cranmer should openly profess in his 
recantation before the people, earnestly desiring him that 
he woulo write the said instrument and articles with his 



fox's book of martyrs, t 453 

own hand, and sign it with his name : which, when he had 
done, the said friar desired that lie would write another 
copy thereof, which should remain with him, and that he 
did also. But yet the archbishop, being not ignoriTt 
whereunto their secret devices tended, and thinking that 
the time was at hand in which he could no longer dissem- 
ble the profession of his faith with Christ's people, he put 
his prayer and his exhortation, written in another paper, 
secretly into his bosom, which he intended to recite to the 
people before he should make the last profession of his 
faith, fearing lest, if they heard the confession of his faith 
first, they would not afterward have suffered him to ex- 
hort the people. 

Soon after lord Williams, sir Thomas Bridges, sir John 
Brown, and the other justices, came to Oxford with a great 
train of waiting-men. The multitude also gathered on 
every side, as is wont in such a matter, and great expecta- 
tions were excited, for first of all, they that were of the 
pope's side were in great hope that day to hear something 
of Cranmer that should establish the vanity of their opi- 
nion ; the other part, who were endued with a better mind, 
could not think that he who, by continued study and 
labour for so many years, had set forth the doctrine of the 
gospel, either would or could, in the last act of his life, 
forsake the good part. 

During this great expectation, the procession at length 
came forth in the following order : The mayor went before, 
next him the aldermen in their place and degree ; after 
them was Cranmer brought between two friars, which 
mumbling to and fro certain psalms in the streets, an- 
swered one another until they came to the church door 
and there they began the song of Simeon, " Nunc dimit- 
tis ;" and entering into the church, the psalm-singing 
friars brought him to his standing, and there left him. 
There was a stage set over against the pulpit, of a mean 
height from the ground, where Cranmer had his standing, 
waiting until Dr. Cole made ready for his sermon. 

The lamentable case and sight of that man was a sor- 
rowful spectacle to all Christian eyes that beheld him. 
He that lately was archbishop, metropolitan, and primate 
of all England, and the king's privy counsellor, being now 
in a bare and ragged gown, and ill-favouredly clothed, with 



154 

an old square cap, exposed to tne contempt of all men, did 
admonish men not only of his own calamity, but also of 
their state and fortune. For who would not pity his case, 
■*nd might not fear his own chance, to see such a prelate, 
so grave a counsellor, and of so long continued honour, 
after so many dignities, in his old years to be deprived of 
nis estate, adjudged to die, and in su painful a death to end 
his life, and now presently from such fresh ornaments, to 
descend to such vile and ragged apparel 1 

In this habit, when he had stood a good space upon the 
stage, turning to a pillar near adjoining thereunto, he lifted 
up his hands to heaven, and prayed unto God once or 
twice, till at length Dr. Cole coming into the pulpit, and 
beginning his sermon, entered first into mention of Tobias 
and Zachary ; whom after he had praised in the beginning 
of his sermon for their perseverance in the true worship- 
ping of God, he then divided his whole sermon into three 
parts, according to the solemn custom of the schools, 
intending to speak first of the mercy of God : secondly, of 
his justice to be showed: and last of all, how the prince's 
secrets are not to be opened. And proceeding a little from 
the beginning, he took occasion by and by to turn his tale 
to Cranmer, and with many hot words reproved him, that 
he, being one endued with the favour and feeling of whole- 
some and Catholic doctrine, fell into a contrary opinion of 
pernicious error; which he had not only defended by his 
writings and all his power, but also allured other men to do 
the like, with great liberality of gifts, as it were appointing 
rewards for error ; and after he had allured them, by all 
means did cherish them. 

It were too long ro repeat all things, that in long order 
were pronounced. The sum of his tripartite declamation 
was, that he said God's mercy was so tempered with his 
justice, that he did not altogether require punishment ac- 
cording to the merits of offenders, nor yet suffered the 
same to go unpunished, yea, though they had repented. 
As in David, who when he was bidden to choose of three 
Kmds of punishment which he would, and he had chosen 
pestilence for three days, the Lord forgave him half the 
time, but did not release all : and that the same thing 
came to pass in him also, to whom although pardon and 
reconciliation was due according to the canons, seeing he 



fox's book of martyrs. 455 

repented of his errors, yet there were causes why the 
queen and the council at this time judged him to death; 
of which, lest he should marvel too much, he should hear 
some. 

First, that being a traitor, he had dissolved the lawful 
matrimony between the king and queen, her father and 
mother; beside the driving out of the pope's authority, 
while he was metropolitan. Secondly, That lie had been 
a heretic, from whom, as from an author and only foun- 
tain, all heretical doctrine and schismatical opinion, that 
so many years have prevailed in England, did first rise 
and spring ; of which he had not been a secret favourer 
only, but also a most earnest defender, even to the end of 
his life, sowing them abroad by writings and arguments, 
privately and openly, not without great ruin to the catho- 
lic church. And further it seemed meet, according to the 
law of equality, that as the death of the late duke of Nor- 
thumberland made even with Thomas More, chancellor, 
that died for the church ; so there should be one that should 
make even with Fisher, of Rochester : and because that 
Ridley, Hooper, and Farrar were not able to make even 
with that man, it seemed that Cranmer should be joined to 
them to fill up their part of the equality.* 

Beside these, there were other just and iveiglity causes, 
which appeared to the queen and council, which were not 
meet at that time to be opened to the common people. 

After this, turning his tale to the hearers, he bid all men 
beware by this man's example, that among men nothing is 
so high that can promise itself safety on the earth, and that 
God's vengeance is equally stretched against all men, and 
spareth none ; therefore they should beware, and learn to 
fear their prince. And seeing the queen's majesty would 
not spare so notable a man as this, much less in the like 
cause would she spare other men, that no man should think 
to make thereby any defence of his error, either in riches 
or any kind of authority. They had now an example to 
teach them all, by whose calamity every man might con- 
sider his own fortune; who, from the top of dignity, none 
being more honourable than he in the whole realm, and 

* This arithmetical reason for burning a man, is certainly the very acme 
of Romish logic. If all accounts were to be thus settled, what would be 
the balance due from oopery. 



456 fox's book of martyrs. 

next the king, was fallen into such great misery, that the 
poorest wretch would not change condition with him ; and 
had become so surrounded with misery on all sides, that 
neither was left in him any hope of better fortune, nor 
o'ace for worse. 

The latter part of his sermon he converted to the arch- 
bishop, whom he comforted and encouraged to take his 
death well, by many places of scripture, bidding him not 
o mistrust, but he should incontinently receive what the 
thief did, to whom Christ said, "This day thou shaJt be 
with me in paradise :" and out of St. Paul he armed him 
against the terror of fire by this, " The Lord is faithful, 
which will not suffer you to be tempted above your 
strength :" by the example of the three children, to whom 
God made the flame to seem like a pleasant dew; adding 
also the rejoicing of St. Andrew on his cross, the patience 
of St. Laurence in the fire, assuring him, that God, if he 
called on him, either would abate the fury of the flame, or 
give him strength to abide it. 

He glorified God much in his (Cranmer's) conversion, 
because it appeared to be only His (the Almighty's) work ; 
declaring what travail and conference had been with him 
to convert him, and all prevailed not, till that it pleased 
God of his mercy to reclaim him, and call him home. In 
discoursing of which place, he much commended Cranmer, 
saying, that all the time he flowed in riches and honour, he 
was unworthy of his life ; and now that he might not live, 
he was unworthy of death. But lest he should carry with 
him no comfort, he promised, in the name of all the priests 
that were present, that immediately after his death there 
should be dirges, masses, and funerals, executed for him in 
all the churches of Oxford, for the succour of his soul. 

All this time with what grief of mind Cranmer stood 
hearing this sermon, the outward shows of countenance did 
better express, than any man can declare ; now lifting up 
nis hands and eyes unto heaven, and then again for shame 
letting them down to the earth. They that were present 
testified that they never saw in any child more tears than 
came from him at that time, during the whole sermon ; but 
especially when he recited his prayer before the people. 

After Cole had ended his sermon, he called back thd 
people to prayers that were ready to depart. " Brethren,' 



457 

said he, ** lest any man should doubt of this man's earnest 
conversion and repentance, you shall hear him speak be- 
fore you ; and therefore I pray you, Mr. Cranmer, to per- 
form that now, which you promised not long ago ; namely, 
that you would openly express the true and undoubted pro- 
fession of your faith, that you may take away all suspicion 
from men, and that all men may understand that you are a 
catholic indeed." " I will do it," said the archbishop, 
44 and that with a good will ;" who, rising up and putting 
off his cap, spoke thus unto the people : 

44 Good Christian people, my dearly beloved brethren and 
sisters in Christ, I beseech you most heartily to pray for me 
to Almighty God, that he will forgive me all my sins and 
offences, which be many without number, and great above 
measure. But yet one thing grieveth my conscience more 
than all the rest, whereof, God willing, I intend to speak 
more hereafter. But how great and how many soever my 
sins be, I beseech you to pray to God of his mercy to par- 
don and forgive them all." And here kneeling down, he 
said the following prayer : 

44 O Father of heaven, O Son of God, Redeemer of the 
world, O Holy Ghost, three persons and and one God, have 
mercy upon me, most wretched caitiff and miserable sin- 
ner. I have offended both against heaven and earth, more 
than my tongue can express. Whither then may I go, or 
whither shall I flee ? To heaven I may be ashamed to lift 
up mine eyes, and in earth I find no place of refuge or 
succour. To thee, therefore, O Lord, do I humble myself; 
saying O Lord my God, my sins be great, butyet have mercy 
upon me, for thy great mercy. The great mystery that 
God became man, was not wrought for little or few offen- 
ces. Thou didst not give thy Son, O heavenly Father, 
unto death for small sins only, but for all the greatest sins 
of the world, so that the sinner return to thee with his 
whole heart, as I do at this present. Wherefore have 
mercy on me, O God, whose property is always to have 
mercy ; have mercy upon me, O Lord, for thy great mer- 
cy. I crave nothing for mine own merits, but for thy 
name's sake, that it may be hallowed thereby, and for 
thy Son Jesus Christ's sake. And now, therefore, O 
Father of heaven, hallowed be thy name," &c. And then 
rising, he said : 

39 



458 fox's book op martyrs. 

" Every man, good people, desireth at the time of I is 
death to give some good exhortation, that others may re- 
member the same before their death, and be the belter 
thereby : sol beseech God grant me grace, that I may speak 
something at this my departing, whereby God may be 
glorified, and you edified. 

" First it is a heavy cause to see that so many folk so 
much doat upon the love of this false world, and be so 
careful for it, that of the love of God, or the world 
to come they seem to care very little or nothing. There- 
fore, this shall be my first exhortation : That you set not 
your minds overmuch upon this deceitful world, but upon 
God, and upon the world to come, and to learn to know 
what this lesson meaneth which St. John teacheth, ' That 
the love of this world is hatred against God,' 

" The second exhortation is, That next under God 
you obey your king and queen willingly and gladly, without 
murmuring or grudging; not for fear of them only, but 
much more now for the fear of God ; knowing that they be 
God's ministers, appointed by God to rule and govern you : 
and, therefore, whosoever resisteth them resisteth the ordi- 
nance of God. 

" The third exhortation is, That you love altogether 
like brethren and sisters. For, alas ! pity it is to see what 
contention and hatred one Christian man beareth to ano- 
ther, not taking each other as brother and sister, but rather 
as strangers and mortal enemies. But I pray you learn 
and bear well away this one lesson, To do good unto all 
men, as much as in you lieth, and to hurt no man, no more 
than you would hurt your own natural loving brother or 
sister. For this you may be sure of, that whosoever hatetli 
any person, and goeth about maliciously to hinder or hurt 
him, surely and without all doubt, God is not with that man, 
although he think himself ever so much in God's favour. 

" The fourth exhortation shall be to them that have 
reat substance and riches of this world ; That they wiL 
veil consider and weigh three sayings of the Scripture f 
one is of our Saviour himself, who saith, ' It is hard for a 
rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.' A sore 
saying, and yet spoken by him who knoweth the truth. 

" The second is of St. John, whose saying is this, ' He 
that hath the substance of this world, and seeth his brothe* 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



459 



in necessity, and shutteth up his mercy from him, how can 
he say that he loveth God V 

" The third is of St. James, who speaketh to the covet- 
ous rich man, after this manner, ' Weep you and howl for 
the misery that shall come upon you : your riches do rot, 
your clothes be moth-eaten, your gold and silver doth 
canker and rust, and their rust shall bear witness against 
you, and consume you like fire : you gather a hoard or 
treasure of God's indignation against the last day.' Let 
them that be rich ponder well these three sentences : for 
if they ever had occasion to show their charity, they have 
it now at this present, the poor people being so many, and 
victuals so dear. 

" And now forasmuch as I am come to the last end of 
my life, whereupon hangeth all my life past, and all my 
life to come, either to live with my master Christ for ever 
in joy, or else to be in pain for ever with wicked devils in 
hell, and I see before mine eyes presently either heaven 
ready to receive me, or else hell ready to swallow me up : 
I shall therefore declare unto you my very faith how I 
believe without any colour of dissimulation : for now is no 
time to dissemble, whatsoever I have said or written in 
times past. 

" First, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker 
of heaven and earth, &c. And I believe every article of 
the Catholic faith, every word and sentence taught by our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, his apostles and prophets, in the 
New and Old Testament. 

" And now I come to the great thing which so much 
troubleth my conscience, more than any thing that ever I 
did or said in my whole life, and that is the setting abroad 
of a writing contrary to the truth ; which now here I re- 
nounce and refuse, as things written with my hand con- 
trary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written 
for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be ; and 
that is, all such bills and papers which I have written or 
signed with my hand since my degradation, wherein I 
have written many things untrue. And forasmuch as my 
hand hath offended, writing contrary to my heart, there- 
fore my hand shall first be punished ; for when I come to 
the fire, it shall be first burned. 

" And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy 
and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine. 



460 

44 And as for the sacrament, I believe as I have taughi 
n my book against the bishop of Winchester, which, my 
Dook, teacheth so true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it 
shall stand at the last day before the judgment of God, 
where the papistical doctrine contrary thereto shall be 
ashamed to show her face." 

Here the bystanders were all astonished, and looked 
upon one another, whose expectation he had so notably 
deceived. Some began to admonish him of his recantation, 
and to accuse him of falsehood. 

Briefly, it was strange to see the doctors beguiled of so 
great a hope. I think there was never cruelty more no- 
tably or better in time deluded and deceived. For it is 
not to be doubted, but they looked for a glorious victory, 
and a perpetual triumph by this man's retraction. 

As soon as they heard these things, they began to rage, 
fret, and fume; and so much the more, because they could 
not revenge their grief: for they could now no longer 
threaten or hurt him. For the most miserable man in the 
world can die but once ; and whereas of necessity he 
must needs die that day, though the papists had been ever 
so well pleased, being ever so much offended with him, 
yet could he not be twice killed by them. And so when 
they could do nothing else unto him, yet lest they should 
say nothing, they ceased not to object unto him his false- 
hood and dissimulation. 

Unto which accusation he answered, "All, my masters 
do you not take it so 1 Always since I lived hitherto, 1 
have been a hater of falsehood, and a lover of simplicity, 
and never before this time have I dissembled ;" and in 
saying this, all the tears that remained in his body ap- 
peared in his eyes. And when he began to speak more of 
the sacrament and of the papacy, some of them began to 
cry out, yelp, und bawl, and especially Cole cried out upon 
him, " Stop the heretic's mouth and take him away." 
And then Cranmer being pulled down from the stage, was 
led to the fire, accompanied with those friars, vexing, 
troubling, and threatening him most cruelly. " What mad- 
ness," say they, " hath brought thee again into this error, 
by which thou wilt draw innumerable souls with thee into 
hell V 1 To whom he answered nothing, but directed all 
his talk to the people, saving that to one troubling him in 



fox's book op martyrs. 



461 



the way, he spake, and exhorted him to get home to his 
study, and apply to his book diligently ; saying, if he did 
diligently call upon God, by reading more he should get 
knowledge. 

But when he came to the place where the holy bishops 
and martyrs of God, bishop Latimer and bishop Ridley, 
were burnt before him, for the confession of the truth, 
kneeling down he prayed to God, and not long tarrying in 
his prayers, putting off his garment to his shirt, he pre- 
pared himself for death. His shirt was made long down 
to his feet. His feet were bare ; likewise his head, when 
both his caps were off, was so bare that one hair could not 
be seen upon it. His beard was so long and thick, that it 
covered his face with marvellous gravity ; and his reve- 
rend countenance moved the hearts both of his friends and 
nemies. 




Burning of Cranmer. 

The Spanish friars, John and Richard, of whom men 
tion was made before, now began to exhort him, and play 
their parts with him afresh, but with vain and lost labour. 
Cranmer, with steadfast purpose abiding in the profession 
of his doctrine, gave his hand to certain old men, and 
others that stood by, bidding them farewell. An iron chain 
was now tied about him, and they commanded the fire to 
be set upon him. When the wood was kindled, and the 

39* 



462 Pox*& JiooK of MAktiits. 

fire began to burn near him, he stretched forth hi. ight 
hand, which had signed his recantation, into the n mes, 
and there held it so steadfast that all the people might see 
it burnt to a coal before his body was touched. In short, 
he was so patient and constant in the midst of the^e ex- 
treme tortures, that he seemed to move no more than the 
stake to which he was bound ; his eyes were lifted up to 
heaven, and he often repeated, " this unworthy right 1 jind," 
so long as his voice would surfer him ; and as often using 
the words of the blessed martyr St. Stephen, " Lord Jesus, 
receive my spirit," till the fury of the flames putting him 
to silence, he gave up the ghost. 

Thus died Thomas Cranmer, in the 67th year of his 
age. He was a man of great candour, and a firm friend, 
which appeared signally in the misfortunes of Anne Bo- 
leyn, Cromwell, and the duke of Somerset. In his 
writings he rather excelled in great industry and good 
judgment, than in quickness of apprehension, or a close- 
ness of style. He employed his revenues on pious and 
charitable uses ; and in his table he was truly hospitable, 
for he entertained great numbers of his poor neighbours 
often at it. The gentleness and humility of his deport- 
ment were very remarkable. His last fall was the greatest 
blemish of his life, yet that was expiated by a sincere 
repentance ; and while we drop a tear over this melan- 
choly instance of human frailty, we must acknowledge 
with praise the interposition of Divine Providence in his 
return to the truth. And it seemed necessary that the 
reformation of the church, being the restoring of the pri- 
mitive and apostolical doctrine, should have been chiefly 
carried on by a man thus emineni i v primitive and apos- 
tolical virtues* 



IfOJt IS BOOK Ofr MARTYRS. 46& 



CHAPTBR VJU, 



Martyrdom oj various Persons after the death of Arcn 
bishop Cranmer. 



Martyrdoms of Richard and Thomas Spurg, John 
Cavill. and George Ambrose, Laymen ; and of 
Robert Drake and William Tims, Ministers. 

These six pious Christians resided in the county of Es- 
ex. Being accused of heresy, they were apprehended, 
and sent by lord Rich, at different times, to bishop Gar- 
diner, who, after a short examination, sent the first four 
to the Marslialsea prison in the Borough, and the latter 
two to the King's Bench, where they continued during a 
whole year, till the death of Gardiner. 

When Dr. Heath, archbishop of York, succeeded to the 
chancellorship, four of these, Richard and Thomas Spurg, 
John Cavill, and George Ambrose, weary of their tedious 
confinement, presented a petition to the lord chancellor, 
requesting his interest for their enlargement. A short time 
after the delivery of the petition, sir Richard Read, one 
of the officers of the court of Chancery, was sent to exa- 
mine them. 

Richard Spurg, the' first who passed examination, 
being asked the cause of his imprisonment, replied, that 
he, with several others, being complained of by the minis- 
ter of Bocking, for not coming to their parish church, to 
the lord Rich, was thereupon sent up to London by his 
ordship, to be examined by the late chancellor. He ac- 
knowledged that he had not been at church since the Eng- 
lish service was changed into Latin, except on Christmas 
day was twelvemonth, because he disliked the same, and 
the mass also, as not agreeable to God's holy word. He 
then desired that he might be no further examined con- 
cerning this matter until it pleased the chancellor to in- 
quire his faith concerning the same, which he was ready 
to testify. 

Thomas Spurg, on his examination, answered to the 



464 

same effect witn tne other, confessing that he absented 
himself from church, because the word of God was not 
there truly taught, not the sacraments of Christ duly ad- 
ministered, as prescribed by the same word. Being further 
examined, touching his faith in the sacrament of the altar, 
he said that if he stood accused in that particular, he 
would answer as God had given him knowledge, which he 
should do at another opportunity. 

John Cavill likewise agreed in the chief particulars 
with his brethren : but further said, the cause of his ab- 
senting himself from church was, that the minister there 
had advanced two doctrines contrary to each other ; for 
first, in a sermon which he delivered when the queen 
came to the crown, he exhorted the people to believe the 
gospel, declaring it to be truth, and that, if they believed 
it not, they would be damned ; and secondly, in a future 
discourse, he declared that the New Testament was false 
in forty places ; which contrariety gave Cavill much dis- 
gust, and was, among other things, the cause of his ab- 
senting himself from church. 

George Ambrose answered to the same effect, adding, 
that after he had read the late bishop of Winchester's 
book, entitled De verd Obediential with Bonner's preface 
annexed, both inveighing against the authority of the 
bishop of Rome, he esteemed their principles more lightly 
than he had done before. 

Robert Drake was minister of Thundersly, in Essex, 
to which living he had been presented by lord Rich in the 
reign of Edward VI. when he was ordained priest by Dr. 
Ridley, then bishop of London, according to the reformed 
English service for ordination. On the accession of queen 
Mary to the throne of England, he was sent for by Gar- 
diner, who demanded of him whether he would conform 
to the laws of the realm then in force? He answered, that 
he would abide by those laws that were agreeable to the 
law of God ; upon which he was immediately committed 
to prison. 

William Tims was a deacon and curate of Hockley, 
in Essex, in the reign of Edward VI. but being deprived 
of his living soon after the death of that monarch, he ab- 
sconded, and privately preached in a neighbouring wood, 
whither many of his flock attended to hear the word of 



465 

God. In consequence of tliese proceedings, he was ap 
preliended by one of the constables, and sent up to the 
bishop of London, by whom lie was referred to Gardiner, 
who committed him to the King's Bench prison. 

A short time after his confinement, he, with the others 
beforementioned, was ordered to appear before the bishop 
of London, who questioned him concerning his faith in th 
sacrament of the altar. Mr. Tims answered, that the 
body of Christ was not in the sacrament of the altar, really 
and corporeally, after the words of consecration spoken 
by the priest ; and that he had been of that opinion, ever 
since it had pleased God to call him to the true gospel of 
his grace. 

On the 28th of March, J556, these persons were all 
brought into the consistory court before the bishop of 
London, in order to be examined, for the last time ; when 
he assured them, that if they did not submit to the church 
of Rome, they should be condemned for heresy. 

The bishop began his examination with Tims, whom 
he called the ringleader of the others : he told him, that 
he had taught them heresies, and endeavoured, as far as in 
him lay, to render them as abominable as himself; with 
many other accusations equally false and opprobious. He 
was then asked by the bishop what he had to say in his 
own vindication, in order to prevent him from proceeding 
against him as his ordinary. To which he replied as 
follows : 

" My lord, I am astonished that you should begin your 
charge with a falsehood ; you aver that I am the ringleader 
of the company now brought before you, and have taugh 
them principles contrary to the Romish church, since we 
have been in confinement ; but the injustice of this declara- 
tion will soon appear, if you will inquire of these my brethren, 
whether, when at liberty, and out of prison, the} r dissenttd 
not from popish principles as much as they do at present 
such inquiry, I presume, will render it evident, that they 
learned not their religion in prison. 

For my own part, I declare I never knew them, til. 
such time as I became their fellow-prisoner ; how then 
could I be their ringleader and teacher] With respect to 
the charge alleged against me, whatever opinion you main- 
tain concerning me, I am well assured I hold no other reli- 



466 

gion than what Christ preached, the apostles witnessed, 
the primitive church received, and of late the apostolical 
and evangelical preachers of this realm have faithfully 
taught, and for which you have cruelly caused them to be 
burnt, and now seek to treat us with the like inhuman 
severity. I acknowledge you to be my ordinary." 

The bishop demanded if he would submit himself to the 
holy mother-church, promising that, if he did, he should be 
kindly received ; and threatening, at the same time, that, 
if he did not, judgment should be pronounced against him 
as a heretic. 

In answer to this, Tims told his lordship, he was well 
persuaded that he was within the pale of the Catholic 
church ; and reminded him, that he had most solemnly 
abjured that very church to which he since professed such 
strenuous allegiance ; and that, contrary to his oath, he 
again admitted, in this realm, the authority of the pope, 
and was, therefore, perjured and forsworn in the highest 
degree. He also recalled to his memory, that he had spoken 
with great force and perspicuity against the usurped power 
of the pope, though he afterward sentenced persons to be 
burnt, because they would not acknowledge the pope to be 
the supreme head of the church. 

On this, Bonner sternly demanded, what he had written 
against the church of Rome 1 

Mr. Tims pertinently answered, " My lord, the late 
bishop of Winchester wrote a very learned treatise, entitled 
De vera Obediential which contains many solid arguments 
against the papal supremacy : to this book you wrote a 
preface, strongly, inveighing against the bishop of Rome, 
reproving his tyranny and usurpation, and showing that his 
power was ill-founded, and contrary both to the will of God 
and the real interest of mankind." 

The bishop, struck with the poignancy of this reproof, 
evasively told him, that the bishop of Winchester wrote a 
book against the supremacy of the pope's holiness, and he 
wrote a preface to the same book, tending to the same 
purpose : but that the cause of this arose not from their 
disregard to his holiness, but because it was then deemed 
treason, by the laws of the realm, to maintain the pope's 
authority in England. 

He also observed, that at such a time it was dangerous 



POX'S BOOK OF MAKTYRS. 467 

to profess to favour the church of Rome, and therefore fear 
compelled them to comply with the prevailing opinions of 
the times : for if any person had conscientiously acknow- 
ledged the pope's authority in those days, he would have 
been put to death ; but that since the queen's happy 
accession to the throne, they might boldly speak the dic- 
tates of their consciences; and further reminded him, that 
as my lord of Winchester was not ashamed to recant his 
errors at St. Paul's cross, and that he himself had done the 
same, every inferior clergyman should follow the example 
of his superiors. 

Mr. Tims, still persisting in the vindication of his own 
conduct, and reprehension of that of the bishop, again 
replied, " My lord, that which you have written against 
the supremacy of the pope may be well proved from scrip- 
ture to be true ; that which you now do is contrary to the 
word of God, as I can sufficiently prove." 

Bonner, after much further conversation, proceeded 
according to the form of law, causing his articles, with the 
respective answers to each, to be publicly read in court. 

Mr. Tims acknowledged only two sacraments, baptism 
and the Lord's supper : commended the bishop of Winches- 
ter's book De verd Obedientia, and the bishop of Lon- 
don's preface to the same. He declared that the mass was 
blasphemy of Christ's passion and death ; that Christ is not 
corporeally but spiritually present in the sacrament, and 
that, as they used it, it was an abominable idol. 

The bishop, finding Mr. Tims so inflexible in his ad- 
herence to the faith he professed, that every attempt to 
draw him from it was vain and fruitless, read his definitive 
sentence, and he was delivered over to the secular power. 
Bonner then used the same measures with the others as he 
had with Tims ; but they all refused consenting to the 
church of Rome, but. said they were willing to adhere to 
the true Catholic church, and continue in the same. 

Bonner then read their several definitive sentences, after 
which he committed them to the custody of the sheriffs of 
London, by whom they were conducted to Newgate. 

On the 14th of A.pril, 1556, they were all led to Smith- 
Held, where they were chained to the same stake, and 
Ournt in one fire. 



468 fox's book op martyrs. 

Martyrdoms of Hugh Laverock, a decrepid old man 
and John Apprice, a blind man. 

The former of these martyrs was by trade a painter, 
and lived in the parish of Barking, in Essex. At the time 
of his apprehension he was in fhe 68th year of his age, 
and very helpless from the natural infirmities of life. 
Being accused of heresy by some of the popish emissaries 
in his neighbourhood, he, with his fellow-sufferer, was 
taken before Bonner to be examined with respect to his 
faith. The bishop laid before them the same articles as 
have been mentioned in former instances ; and they re- 
turned answers to the same effect as those of other advo- 
cates for the truth of the gospel. 

On the 9th of May, 1556, they were both brought into 
the consistory court, where their articles and answers were 
publicly read ; after which the bishop endeavoured to per- 
suade them to recant their opinions concerning the sacra- 
ment of the altar. 

Hugh Laverock declared, that by the grace of God he 
would continue in the profession he had already made, for 
he could not find the least authority in the word of God 
for approving the doctrine of the corporeal presence in 
the sacrament. 

The bishop then addressed himself to John Apprice, and 
* manded what he had to say in his defence 1 The honest 
blind man answered the haughty prelate, " that the doc- 
trine he set forth and taught was so conformable to the 
world, that it could not be agreeable to the scripture of 
God ; and that he was no member of the Catholic church 
of Christ, seeing he made laws to kill men, and made the 
queen his executioner." 

The first examination being over, they were dismissed, 
but ordered to appear the next day at the bishop's palace 
at Fulham. Being accordingly conducted there, the bi- 
shop, after some discourse with them, and finding them 
steadfast, pronounced the definitive sentence ; when, being 
delivered over to the secular power, they were committed 
to Newgate. On the 15th of May, they were conveyed 
to Stratford-le-Bow, the place appointed for their execu- 
tion. As soon as they arrived at the stake, Laverock 
threw away his crutch, and thus addressed his fellow-suf- 
ferer : 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



469 



11 Be of good comfort, brother, for my lord of London 
is our good physician : he will cure us both shortly, thee 
uf thy blindness, and me of my lameness." 

These two undaunted believers in Christ were both 
chained to one stake. They endured their sufferings with 
great fortitude, and cheerfully yielded up their lives in tes- 
timony of the truth of their blessed Redeemer. 

Martyrdom oj Thomas Drowry, a blind boy, and Tho- 
mas Croker. 

We have just before related the sufferings of two men, 
the one blind and the other lame ; and we have now ano- 
ther instance of natural blindness conjoined with mental 
illumination, leading the possessor to a glorious death, and 
a never-ending felicity in heaven. 

Thomas Drowry, a blind boy, was brought before Dr. 
Williams, chancellor of Gloucester, and examined as to 
his belief in regard to the real presence in the sacrament 
of the altar. His answers were such as to draw down 
upon him the anger of the haughty prelate, and he was 
condemned to be executed for heresy. Refusing all per- 
suasions to recant, he was burnt at Gloucester, on the 15th 
of May, 1556, together with Thomas Croker, a brick- 
layer, condemned also for his testimony to the truth. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Proclamation of Queen Mary. 

When this horrid persecution had continued for two 
years, and many hundreds had fallen victims to the rage of 
those popish monsters, the blood-thirsty cravings of Queen 
Mary were not yet satisfied ; as will appear by the follow- 
ing proclamation, dated February, 1557 : 

" Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, king and 
queen of England, &c. To the right reverend father in 
God, our right trusty and well-beloved counsellor Thomas, 
bishop of Ely, and to our right trusty and well-beloved 
William Windsore, knight, lord Windsore ; Edward North, 
40 



470 fox's book of martyrs. 

knight, lord North; and to our trusty and well-beloved 
counsel'or J. Bourn, knight, one of our chief secretaries, 
J. Mordaunt, knight, Francis Englefield, knight, master of 
our wards and liveries, Edward Walgrave, knight, master 
of our great wardrobe, Nicholas Hare, knight, master of 
the rolls, Thomas Pope, knight, Roger Cholmley, knight, 
Richard Rede, knight, Rowland Hill, knight, William 
Rastal, sergeant at law, Henry Cole, clerk, dean of Paul's, 
William Roper, and Ralph Cholmey, esquires, William 
Cook, Thomas Martin, John Story, and John Vaughen, 
doctors of the law, greeting. 

" Forasmuch as divers devilish and slanderous persons 
have not only invented, bruited, and set forth divers false 
rumours, tales, and seditious slanders against us, but also 
have sown divers heresies, and heretical opinions, and set 
forth divers seditious books within this our realm of Eng- 
land, meaning thereby to stir up division, strife, conten- 
tion, and sedition, not only among our loving subjects, 
but also between us and our said subjects, with divers other 
outrageous misdemeanors, enormities, contempts, and of- 
fences, daily committed and done, to the disquieting of us 
and our people : we, minding the due punishment of such 
offenders, and the repressing of such like offences, enor- 
mities, and misbehaviours from henceforth, having special 
trust and confidence in your fidelities, wisdoms, and dis- 
cretions, have authorized, appointed, and assigned you to 
be our commissioners ; and by these presents do give full 
power and authority unto you, and three of you, to inquire, 
as well by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men, as by 
witnesses, and all other means and politic ways you can 
devise, of all and singular heretical opinions, lollardies, 
heretical and seditious books, concealments, contempts, 
conspiracies, and all false rumours, tales, seditious and 
slanderous words or sayings, raised, published, bruited, 
invented, or set forth against us, or either of us, or against 
the quiet governance and rule of our people and subjects, 
by books, lies, tales, or otherwise, in any county, key, 
uowiiig, or other place or places, within this our reilm ol 
England, or elsewhere, in any place, or places, beyond 
the seas, and of the bringers in, utterers, buyers, sellers, 
readers, keepers, or conveyers of any such letter, book 
rumour and tale ; and of all and every their coadjutor 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 47 1 

counsellors, comforters, procurers, abettors and maintain- 
ers, giving unto you, and three of you, full power and 
authority, by virtue hereof, to search oui, and take into 
your hands and possessions, all manner of heretical and 
seditious books, letters, and writings, wheresoever they, 
or any of them, shall be found, as well in printers, houses 
and shops as elsewhere, willing you, and every of you, to 
search for the same in all places, according to your discre- 
tions. 

" And also to inquire, hear, and determine, all and sin- 
gular enormities, disturbances, misbehaviours, and negli- 
gences committed in any church, chapel, or other hallowed 
place within this realm ; and also, for and concerning the 
taking away, or withholding any lands, tenements, goods, 
ornaments, stocks of money, or other things belonging U 
every of the same churches, and chapels, and all accounts 
and reckonings concerning the same. 

" And also to inquire and search out all such persons as 
obstinately do refuse to receive the blessed sacrament of 
the altar, to hear mass, or to come to their parish churches, 
or other convenient places appointed for divine service ; and 
all such as refuse to go on procession, to take holy bread 
or holy water, or otherwise do misuse themselves in any 
church, or other hallowed places, wheresoever any of the 
same offences have been, or hereafter shall be committed, 
within this our said realm. 

"Nevertheless, our will and pleasureis, that when, and as 
often as any person, or persons, hereafter being called and 
convened before you, do obstinately persist, or stand in any 
manner of heresy, or heretical opinion, that then ye, or 
three of you, do immediately take order, that the same per- 
son, or persons, so standing, or persisting, be delivered and 
committed to his ordinary, there to be used according to 
the spiritual and ecclesiastical laws. 

"And also we give unto you, or three of you, full power 
and authority, to inquire and search «ut all vagabonds, and 
masterless men, barretours, quarrellers, and suspected per- 
sons, abiding within our city of London, and ten miles 
compass of the same, and all assaults and affrays done and 
committed within the same city and compass. 

*' And further, to search out all wastes, decays, and ruins 
of churches chancels, chapels, parsonages, and vicarages, 



472 

in the diocess of the same, being within this realm, giving 
you, and every of you, full power and authority, by virtue 
hereof, to hear and determine the same, and all other offen- 
ces and matters above specified and rehearsed, according 
to your wisdoms, consciences, and discretions, willing and 
commanding you, or three of you, from time to time, to use 
and devise all such politic ways and means, for the trial 
and searching out of the premises, as by you, or three ol 
you, shall be thought most expedient and necessary : and 
upon inquiry, and due proof had, known, perceived, and 
tried out, by the confession of the parties, or by sufficient 
witnesses before you, or three of you, concerning the pre- 
mises, or any part thereof, or by any other ways or means 
requisite, to give and award such punishment to the offen- 
ders, by fine, imprisonment, or otherwise ; and to take such 
order lor redress and reformation of the premises, as to 
your wisdoms, or three of vou, shall be thought meet and 
convenient. 

" Further willing and commanding you, and every three 
of you, in case you shall find any person, or persons, obsti- 
nate or disobedient, either In their appearance before you, 
or three of you, at your calling or assignment, or else in 
not accomplishing, or not obeying your decrees, orders, and 
commandments, in any thing or things, touching the pre- 
mises, or any part thereof, to commit the same person, or 
persons so offending to ward, there to remain, till by you, 
or three of you, he be discharged or delivered, &c." 

Martyrdom of three Women and an Infant, in Guernsey 

Of all the singular and tragical histories in this book, 
nothing can be more barbarous, if any thing can equal, 
the inhumanity of this execution upon three women and an 
infant, whose names were Catherine Cawches, the mother; 
Guillemine Gilbert, and Perotine Massey, her daughters ; 
and an infant, the son of Perotine. 

These victims of popish cruelty owed their suffering to 
the following circumstances. A woman, named Gosset, 
having stolen a cup, took it to Mrs. Massey, who lived 
vith her mother and sister, and requested of her to lend 
(vir six-pence upon it. The latter, suspecting the theft, 
at first refused ; but thinking she would return it ti tne 



FOX 8 BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



473 



owner, whom she knew, in order to prevent Gosset's 
taking it elsewhere, gave her the sixpence, and made 
known the affair to the owner, who charging the offender 
with the crime, she confessed, and the cup was, according- 
ly, restored. On a pretended suspicion, however, that 
Mrs. Massey, with her mother and sister, was a sharer in 
the crime, they were imprisoned and brought to trial, when 
it appeared that they were perfectly innocent. It was 
found, however, that they did not attend the church, and on 
further investigation, they were discovered to be, in the 
judgment of the papists, heretics ; and they were condemned 
to be burnt. 




The clay being come when these innocents should suf- 
fer, July 18, 1556, in the place where they stood to con- 
summate their martyrdom were three stakes set up, to 
which they were bound. They were first strangled, but 
the rope breaking before they were dead, they fell into the 
tire. Perotine, who was then in a very advanced stage 
of pregnancy, fell on her side, and her womb bursting 
asunder, by the vehemency of the flame, the infant, being 
a male, fell into the fire, and being immediately taken out 
by one W. House, was laid upon the grass. The child 
was carried to the provost, and from him to the bailiff, 
who gave order that it should be carried back again and 

40* 



474 

cast into the fin-. And so the infant baptized in his owl 
blood, to fill up the number of God's innocent saints, was 
both born and died a martyr, leaving behind a spectacle 
wherein the whole world may see the Herodian cruelty of 
this graceless generation of popish tormentors, to their 
perpetual shame and infamy. 

Martyrdoms of William Bongeor, Thomas Benhote, 
Witliam Purchase, Agnes Silver side, Helen Ewring 
Elizabeth Folk, William Munt, John Johnson, Alice 
Munt, and Rose Allen, at Colchester. 

Previous to the event which we are now about to re- 
cord, twenty-two persons were brought from Colchester to 
London, and there discharged on signing a confession. 
Among these were William Munt, Alice his wife, and 
Rose Allen, her daughter. After their return they absented 
themselves from the popish church, and refused to join in 
their idolatrous ceremonies. This so incensed the priest 
of the town, that he addressed petitions to lord Darcy and 
bishop Bonner, which caused so strong a persecution to be 
raised against these poor people, as compelled them for a 
time to withdraw from its rage ; after a short time, how- 
ever, lulled into security by its apparent cessation, they 
returned to their house, where they had not long been, 
when Edmund Tyrrel, a descendant of the person who 
murdered king Edward V., in the Tower of London, as- 
sisted by a great number of other attendants, came to the 
door, and told Mr. Munt that he and his wife must go with 
him to Colchester castle. 

This sudden surprise greatly affected Mrs. Munt, who 
vvas much indisposed in consequence of the cruel treatment 
she had before received from the popish party ; but after 
she had a little recovered herself, she desired of Tyrrel 
to permit her daughter to fetch her something to drink. 
This being granted, Tyrrel took the opportunity of ad- 
vising the daughter to admonish her father and mother to 
behave more like good Christians, and members of the 
catholic church ; to which she replied, " Sir, they have a 
better instructer than me, for the Holy Ghost doth teach 
them, I hope, which I trust will not suffer them to err." 

Tyrrel. Why, art thou still in that mind, thou naughty 



FOX S BOOK OP MARTYRS. 



475 



housewife 1 marry, it is time to look upon such heretics 
indeed'. 

Rose. Sir, with what you call heresy, do I worship m} 
Lord God ; I tell you truth. 

Tyrrel. Then I perceive you will burn, gossip, with the 
rest, for company's sake. 

Rose. No sir, not for company's sake, but for Christ's 
sake, if so I be compelled, and 1 hope in his mercy, if he 
call me to it, he will enable me to bear it. 

Then Tyrell, turning to his company, said, " Sirs, this 
gossip will burn : what do you think of her V 1 — " Why, 
truly, sir," said one, " prove her, and you shall sec what 
she will do by and by." 




Tyrrel, then taking the candle from her, held her wrist, 
end the lighted candle under her hand, burning it across 
the back, till the sinews cracked ; during which barbarous 
operation he said often to her, "Why, wilt thou not cry?" 
To which she answered, that " She thanked God she had 
no cause, but rather to rejoice. But, he had more cause 
to weep than she, if he considered the matter well." At 
ast he thrust her violently from him, with much scurrilous 
language ; of which she took no other notice than by in- 
quiring, " Sir, have you done what you will qo 1" To 
which he replied, " Yea, and if )ou think not well of it, 
then mend it." 



476 

Rose. " Mend it 1 nay, the Lord mend you, and give 
you repentance, if it be his will; and now, if you think it 
good, begin at the feet, and burn the head also : for he that 
set you on work, shall pay you your wages one day, I war- 
rant you :" and so went and carried her mother drink as 
she was commanded. 

Tyrrel then seized William Munt, his wife, and Rose 
Allen, and conducted them to Colchester castle, together 
with John Johnson, whom they took in their way, on an 
information against him for heresy. 

They also the same morning apprehended six others, 
namely, William Bongeor, Thomas Benhote, William Pur- 
chase, Agnes Silverside, Helen Ewring, and Elizabeth 
Folk ; but not choosing to place those with the rest, they 
sent them prisoners to Mote-hill. 

After they had been confined a few days, they were all 
brought together before several justices of the peace, priests 
and officers, (among whom were Kingston, the commissary, 
and Boswell, the bishop of London's secretary,) with 
many others, in order to be examined relative to their 
faith. 

They were questioned separately as to their religious 
tenets, and their belief in the real presence in the sacra 
ment of the altar, auricular confession, &c. So little satis 
faction did their answers give to their popVsh persecutors 
that sentence of condemnation was read agamst them, anc 
they were all delivered over to the secular power. 

Bishop Bonner having an account transmitted to him of 
the condemnation of these ten innocent persons, sent down 
a warrant for their being burned, and fixed the day for the 
2d of August. As the prisoners were confined in different 
places, it was resolved by the officer that part of them 
;hould be executed in the former, and the rest in the latter 
part of that day. Accordingly William Bongeor, William 
Purchase, Thomas Benhote, Agnes Silverside, Helen 
E vring, and Elizabeth Folk, were brought early in the 
morning to the place appointed for them to suffer. When 
our martyrs arrived at the spot, they humbly addressed 
hemselves to Almighty God, though they were interrupted 
k / their popish enemies. Having concluded their prayers, 
tl ey arose, were fastened to the stakes, and all burnt in 
Q3 fire. They died with amazing fortitude and resigna- 



fox's book of martyrs. 



477 



tion, triumphing in the midst of the flames, and exulting 
in hopes of the future glory that awaited them after their 
departure from a sinful world. 

In like manner, in the afternoon, William and Alice 
Munt, Rose Allen, and John Johnson, were brought to the 
place where their fellow-martyrs had suffered in the morn- 
ing. As soon as they arrived at the fatal spot, they all 
kneeled down, and, for some time, prayed with the greatest 
fervency. After prayers they arose, and cheerfully sub- 
mitted to be fastened to the stakes, and with their latest 
breath testified their faith in Christ crucified 

Martyrdoms of Cuthbert Simson, Hugh i^ox, and John 
Davenish. 




Cuthbert Simsoyi tortured 



Cuthbert Simson, deacon oi a small congregation in 
London, was committed prisoner to the tower, where he 
was examined by the recorder of London and one Mr. 
Cholmley, who commanded him to declare what persons 
he had summoned to come to the English service ; but he 
told them he would not comply with their request. 

They then ordered him to be put to the rack, on which 
he lay, in great agonies, upwards of three hours. While 
he was in the most excruciating torment, they asked him 



478 fox's book, of martyrs. 

the same question as they had done before, and he made 
them the same answer. He was then released from the 
rack, and conducted to the room appointed for his con- 
finement. 

On the Sunday following he was again brought to the 
room in which he had been racked, when the recorder of 
London and the lieutenant of the tower once more de- 
sired him to confess ; but he still refused, saying, he was 
determined not to satisfy them. 

They then tied his two fore-fingers together, with a 
small arrow between them : this done, they drew the arrow 
backward and forward so quick, that the blood followed, 
and the arrow broke ; after which they racked him twice 
more, and then again conducted him to his dungeon. 

About ten days after this the lieutenant again asked him 
if he would confess what had been repeatedly asked by 
himself and the recorder ; to which Mr. Simson an- 
swered, that he would say no more than he had said. 

On the 19th of March he was taken before the bishop 
of London for examination. While in the consistory court, 
bishop Bonner took particular notice of him to the people. 
" Ye see," -said he, " this man, what a personable man he 
is ; and I tell you, that if he were not a heretic, he is a 
man of the greatest patience that ever came before me. 
He hath been twice racked in one day in the tower, and 
also in my house he hath felt much sorrow, and yet I never 
saw his patience broken." 

On the 28th of March, 1558, he, together with Hugh 
Fox and John Davenish, who had also been condemned 
for heresy, was conducted by the sheriffs, and their officers, 
to Smithfield, where they were all fastened to one stake, 
and burnt in the same fire. They behaved with truly 
Christian fortitude to the last, praising and glorifying God, 
that he had enabled them to go through the horrid punish- 
ment allotted them, for no other reason than their strict 
adherence to the truth of his most holy gospel. 

William Fctty scourged to Death, 

If dying innocently in the cause of religion consti- 
tute a martyr, no one can be better entitled to a place 
in our catalogue than this youth, who was unmerciful^ 



pox's book op martyrs. 479 

scourged to aeath, at the instigation of *he relentless 
Bonner. 



Among those who were imprisoned for the profession of 
Christ's gospel, and yet delivered by the providence of 
God, was John Fetty, the father of this lad. He had been 
accused by his own wife, to the minisrer of the parish, of 
absenting himself from church ; for which he was appre- 
hended by one of the officers employed for that purpose. 
Immediately after his apprehension his wife grew delirious, 
in consequence of which, though they were regardless of 
him, pity toward her wrought upon the magistrates, so that, 
for the support of her and her children, they discharged 
him, with an order that he should continue in his own 
house. Notwithstanding the ingratitude of his wife, he 
provided for her in such a manner, that within three weeks, 
she had, in some measure, recovered her senses. But such 
was the disposition of this woman, that, notwithstanding 
this instance of his conjugal affection, she laid a second in- 
formation against him ; upon which he was apprehended, 
and carried before sir John Mordaunt, one of the queen's 
commissioners, by whom he was sent to Lollard's tower, 
where he was put into the stocks, and had a dish of water 
set by him, with a stone in it, to point out to him, that it 
was the chief sustenance he might expect to receive. 

After to ma been in prison for fifteen days, William 



480 

Fetty, one of his sons, came to the bishop's palace, in 
order to obtain permission to see him. When he arrived 
there, one of the bishop's chaplains asked him his busi- 
ness ; the boy replied, he wanted to see his father, at the 
same time shedding tears, and expressing the greatest un- 
happiness. The chaplain asked who was his father ; and 
when the boy told him, he pointed toward Lollard's tower, 
intimating that he was there confined. 

The chaplain then told him his father was a heretic ; to 
which the boy, who was of a bold and forward spirit, an- 
swered, " My father is no heretic ; but you have Balaam's 
mark." 

On this the incensed priest took the boy by the hand, 
and dragged him to a large room in the palace, where he 
scourged him in the most unmerciful manner ; after which 
he ordered one of his servants to carry him in his shirt to 
his father, the blood running down to his heels. 

As soon as the child saw his father, he fell on his knees, 
and craved his blessing. The poor man, beholding his son 
in so dreadful a situation, exclaimed, " Alas ! who hath 
thus cruelly treated you ?" The boy replied, '* Seeking 
to find you out, a priest with Balaam's mark, took me 
into the bishop's house, and treated me in the manner 
you see." 

The servant then seized the boy with great wrath, and 
dragging him from his father took him back to the place 
where he had been scourged by the priest. Here he was 
kept three days, in the course of which his former punish- 
ment was several times repeated, though not in so severe 
a manner as before. 

At the expiration of that time, Bonner, in order to make 
atonement for this cruel treatment of the boy, and to ap- 
pease the father, determined to release them both. He, 
therefore, ordered the latter to be brought before him, in 
his bed-chamber, early in the morning. When the poor 
man came before the bishop, he said, " God be here, 
and peace." To which the bishop replied, " That is neither 
God speed, nor good-morrow." 

One of the bishop's chaplains reviled Fetty for the 
speech he had made ; when he, spying a string of 
black beads and a small crucifix, said, " As Christ is here 
handled, so you deal with Christ's chosen people." 



FOX S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



481 



The bishop was so enraged at this, that he called him a 
vile heretic, and said, " I will burn thee, or I will spend 
all that I possess." However, in a little time his passion 
cooled, and thinking of the consequences that might arise 
from scourging the child, he ordered them both to be dis- 
charged. 

The father immediately went home with his son ; but 
the poor boy, from an extraordinary effusion of blood, and 
a mortification which ensued, died a few days after, to the 
gre: t grief of his persecuted and indulgent parent. 

The old man remained without further persecution 
during the remainder of his life, often praising God 
for delivering him out of the hands of his enemies, and 
expressing the deep sense he had of the divine protec- 
tion. 



Martyrdom of John Corneford, Christopher Browne, 
John Herst, Alice Snoth, and Catharine Knight, 
(alias Tinley.) 




These five persons were the last who suffered in queen 
Mary's reign for the testimony of that word for which so 
many had die^ before, and gave up their lives meekly and 
patiently, sufT ring the violent malice of the papists. 

Notwithstanding the sickness of queen Mary, whereof 
41 



48§ FOX*S BOOK OP MAtlfYR^!. 

they; weie sot ignorant, the archdeacon of Canterbury 
hastened to lespatch the martyrdom of these persons, be- 
fore her death, which was then daily expected, should de- 
prive them of the power. 

In so doing this archdeacon proved himself more bigoted 
and bloodthiisty than even Bonner ; who, notwithstanding 
he had some at the same time under his custody, yet did 
not hurry them to the stake, as appears by several persons 
«vho, being then in his prison, were delivered by the death 
of Mary. 

Death of Queen Mary, 

It will be recollected that the persecution commenced in 
the beginning of the year 1555, and continued with una- 
bated fury for nearly three years ; during which time 
great numbers suffered death by burning, independent of 
those, who died in consequence of other acts of popish 
cruelty. But the Almighty, who, through infinite wisdom, 
had suffered his faithful witnesses to be thus tried for a 
season, now interposed for their safety, by checking those 
monsters of wickedness in their career of cruelty. 

The queen's health had been long declining. She had, 
for some time, been afflicted with the dropsy, the conse- 
quence of a false conception, and of the improper regimen 
which she pursued. Her malady was greatly augmented 
by the anxiety of her mind, which was a prey to the most 
painful reflections. The consciousness of being hated by 
her subjects ; the mortification of being childless ; the fear 
of leaving her crown to a sister whom she detested; the 
approaching ruin that threatened the catholic religion in 
England on her death ; the indiffe' jnce of her husband, 
(Philip of Spain,) who, never having loved her, had now 
ceased to treat her even with the outward show of affection, 
and had retired into his own country in disgust : all these 
painful circumstances preyed upon her mind, and at length 
threw her into a slow fever, of which she died on the 17th 
of November, 1558, in the forty-third year of her age, and 
the sixth of her reign. 

When we, considei the bigoted zeal of this infatuated 
princess, and the great number of valuable lives sacrificed 
ihrough her arbitrary mandates, we are naturally led to 




S^z^S ^J E ^ffKHgui 



FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. 483 

condemn her, first, as a fellow-creature, and next, as a 
sovereign ; but more particularly in the latter character, 
because, as Providence had placed her in so distinguished 
a rank, she should have held out the arm of protection to 
her subjects, instead of the sword of destruction. But the 
whole progress of her reign does not furnish us with a 
single instance of merit in her, either as a woman or a 
sovereign. On the contrary, all her actions were of the 
most horrid and gloomy cast ; and the barbarities she com- 
mitted, during her reign, were such as to exceed descrip- 
tion. With her the practice of religion became the trade 
of murder, and the care of her people the exercise of her 
cruelty ; while all her views for their happiness, terminated 
in punishments for their virtues. Her bigotry infected 
every branch of government, and weakened every band 
of society. She had not any thing engaging, either in her 
person, her behaviour, or her address : her understanding 
was confined within very narrow limits, and her temper 
was morose and gloomy ; while obstinacy, bigotry, vio- 
lence, malignity, revenge, and tyranny, directed all her 
actions. 

The death of queen Mary revived the drooping spirits 
of the long-oppressed protestants. They now antici- 
pated the peaceful period, when they should no longer 
be persecuted for their religion ; and when their virtues 
would not expose them to the rage of ignorance and 
bigotry. 

Nor were they mistaken: Elizabeth was as strong an 
advocate for the protestant religion, as her predecessor 
had been inveterate against it. No sooner did she ascend 
the throne, than her attention was directed to the protec- 
tion of the professors of the reformed religion; but she did 
this in so wise and prudent a manner, as to prevent any 
disturbance from the opposite party. By her distinguished 
management, in a short time, she fixed the protestant reli- 
gion on so solid a basis, as to prevent its being again over- 
thrown, and ever since her reign, though various attempts 
have been made to destroy it, they have all terminated in 
the defeat of the conspirators, and the ruin of their pro- 
jects. That they may always so terminate, should be 
the fervent prayer of every one who prefers purity to 
corruption, and the decent ritual of the reformed church 



484 Pox'fe BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

to the frivolous ceremonies and pompous nothingness of 
the Popish worship. 



We have now arrived at tlie dose of the darkest reign 
that disgraces the pages of English history, and with it 
ends the account of Christian Martyrdom, as originally 
compiled by Mr. Fox. Since his death, which happened 
April 18, 1587, much interesting matter has been added to 
the original work ; and this will be found in a condensed 
form, in the Appendix. The selections which we have 
made have necessarily been limited to the most important 
and the most interesting, as even the names of those who 
suffered by imprisonment, torture, banishment, and death, 
would make a volume. The work, as originally published, 
consisted of three large quarto volumes — it could hardly be 
expected, therefore, that we should compress all of this 
vast fund of matter into the limits of an humble duodecimo. 
To the world we now intrust the book, with all its imper- 
fections on its head, confident that it will be found no 
unacceptable present to those readers who are unable *fi 
afford the expense of the larger work. 



APPENDIX 




Martyrdom of Adalbert, Bishop of Prague 



d. yy,. 



In addition to those already mentioned who were brought to seal with 
their blood the purity of those doctrines they professed, might also be men- 
tioned hundreds of others, of every rank and condition, who suffered in a 
greater or less degree; some by torture, others by imprisonment, loss of 
property, banishment from their native country, &c. But as has already 
been stated, our limits will necessarily preclude noticing them, as well as 
many other important particulars. 

A brief account of the imprisonment and persecution of the Lady Eliza- 
beth, will suffice to show the spirit or bigotry of the times; from which 
we may easily conceive what must have been the sufferings of the re- 
formers in general, when neither the high birth, nor future prospects c. 
this amiable princess were any protection against an unjust and rigorous 
persecution. 

Imprisonment of the Lady Elizabeth 

The Lady Elizabeth, as has already been mentioned, was the daughter 
of Henry VIII., by Anne Boleyn, and consequently half sister to the princess 
Mary. From an early age she appears to have shown a predilection to 
the sentiments of the reformers, and during the reign of Edward had 
openly avowed herself a protestant; while Mary, on the other hand, still 
rigorously adhered to all the usages of the Roman church. But notwith- 
tanding the difference of their religious sentiments, a friendly inter 
course appears to have subsisted between them till after the coronation 
of Mary. But no sooner did this infatuated queen conceive herself firmly 
seated upon her throne, than she seemed determined to remove from her 
every person from whom the smallest danger could be apprehended. The 

41* 



486 



APPENDIX. 



Lady Elizabeth, who until now had resided at court, and been treated 
with the utmost confidence and friendship, was suddenly sent to her own 
house at Ashbridge, with strict orders not to leave it without ti.e queen's 
permission. Here, however, she did not long remain, before she was ar- 
rested on the pretended suspicion of her being concerned with sir Thomas 
Wyat in an attempt to cast off the papal yoke. As she was already aware 
that it was the intention of Mary to insnare her, if possible, she was but 
iittle surprised at this measure ; and though extremely ill at the time she 
received the summons to appear before the queen, she readily complied, 
and expressed a wish to be brought immediately to trial, that she might 
be able to confound her accusers. This, however, was refused her, and 
for two weeks after being brought to court, she was kept in close confine- 
ment, and suffered to see nor hold communication with none but her 
keepers. 

She was then sent to the tower, where she was kept a close prisoner, 
and not permitted to hold intercourse with any but such as the queen had 
placed about her, and who often treated her with great indignity. To add 
also to the unpleasantness of her situation, Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, 
and other of the catholic clergy, visited her for the purpose of e :ii .• tipping 
her with their conversation ; that they might be able to bring against hei 
the charge of heresy. But, aware of their nefarious designs, she with- 
stood their subtlety in so artful a manner as to avoid the snare thus laid 
for her. 

After remaining for several months at the tower, the agent of the queen 
being unable to substantiate against her either the charge of high treason 
or heresy, she was next removed to Woodstock, where she was carefully 
guarded, and for the greater portion of the time confined to her room. 
Here also she remained several months longer; during which time she 
was repeatedly promised a pardon and her liberty, if she would acknow- 
ledge herself guilty of high treason, and throw herself upon the queen's 
mercy. This, however, she constantly refused to do, declaring herself 
wholly innocent of any connexion with Wyat, and of any thought or 
intention of injuring the queen. 

Finding, finally, that neither threats or promises could prevail on her to 
commit herself with an acknowledgment, she was set at liberty, after 
having been Kept a close prisoner for ten months. 

There can be no doubt that it was the intention of Mary to have put 
the princess Elizabeth to death, either sceretly or otherwise, and was only 
diverted from her purpose by Philip her husband, to whom Elizabeth her- 
self acknowledged she owed her safety ; but whether principle or state 
policy moved him to such a measure, it is not for us to determine. 



EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH, 

The Spanish Armada. 

On the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, the persecution not only 
ceased, but the protestant religion was again established throu°bcut the 
kingdom ; such a measure, as may well be supposed, excited the envy of 
the papal powers of Europe, who seemed determined to unite their efforts 
to re-establish the dominion of the pope, which could only be affected by 
hist overthrowing the civil power. Measures were accordingly concerted 
for affecting this object, the most formidable of which was the noted 
Spanish Armada, fitted out by Philip, king of Spain. 

This mighty fleet, which was three years In fitting out, and the expense* 
of which drained the coffers of its projector, occasioned great consterna- 
tion and alarm in England at first, but being delayed one year longer 
than was intended, preparations were made to repel the intended inva- 
sion, which, with adverse winds, and other providential occurrences, 
wvved to show the ambitious Philip how vain and futile are the efforts of 



APPENDIX. 487 

kings when heaven Interposes in behalf of those whom they doom to de* 
struetlon. 

This formidable fleet was first sepaiated and dispersed by a violent 
storm as it approached the coast of England ; and before they could again 
unite their strength, the greater portion was captured by the British fleet 
fitted out for the purpose ; and of all this terrible Armada, only a few small 
vessels ever returned to bear the melancholy news of the fatal disaster to 
the country from which they had sailed. 

It may not be improper here to subjoin a list of the different articles 
taken on board the Spanish ships, designed for the tcrmenting of the pro- 
testants, had their scheme taken effect. 

1. The common soldiers' pikes, eighteen feet long, pointed with long 
sharp spikes, and shod with iron, which were designed to keep off the 
horse, to facilitate the landing of the infantry. 

2. A great number of lances used by the Spanish officers. These were 
formerly gilt, but the gold is almost worn off by cleaning. 

3. The Spanish ranceurs, made in different forms, which were intended 
ither to kill the men on horseback, or pull them off their horses. 

4. A very singular piece of arms, being a pistol in a shield, so contrived 
s to fire the pistol, and cover the body at the same time with the shield. 

It is to be fired by a match-lock, and the sight of the enemy is to be taken 
through a little grate in the shield, which is pistol proof. 

5. The banner, with a crucifix upon it, which was to have been carried 
before the Spanish general. On it is engraved the pope's benediction be- 
fore the Spanish fleet sailed: for the pope came to the water-side, and, on 
seeing the fleet, blessed it, and styled it Invincible. 

6. The Spanish cravats, as they are called. These are engines of tor- 
ture, made of iron, and put on board to lock together the feet, arms, and 
heads of Englishmen. 

7. Spanish bilboes made of iron likewise, to yoke the English prisoners 
two and two. 

8. Spanish shot, which are of four sorts: pike-shot, star-shot, chain-shot, 
and link-shot, all admirably contrived, as well for the destruction of the 
masts and rigging of ships, as for sweeping the decks of their men. 

9. Spanish spadas poisoned at the points, so that if a man received the 
slightest wound with one of them, certain death was the consequence. 

10. A Spanish poll-axe, used in boarding of ships. 

11. Thumb-screws, of which there were several chests full on board the 
Spanish fleet. The use they were intended for is said to have been to ex- 
tort confession from the English where their money was hid. 

12. The Spanish morning star : a destructive engine resembling the 
figure of a star, of which there were many thousands on board, and all of 
them with poisoned points; and were designed to strike at the enemy as 
they came on board, in case of a close attack. 

13. The Spanish general's halberd, covered with velvet. All the nails 
of this weapon are double gilt with gold : and on its top is the pope's 
head, curiously engraved. 

14. A Spanish battle axe, so contrived as to strike four holes in a 
man's head at once; and has beside a pistol in its handle, with a 
match-lock. 

16. The Spanish general's shield, carried before him as an ensign of 
honour. On it are depicted, in most curious workmanship, the labours 
of Hercules, and other expressive allegories. 

'When the Spanish prisoners were asked by some of the English what 
their intentions were, had their expedition succeeded, they replied, "To 
extirpate the whole from the island, at least all heretics, (as they called 
the protestants,) and to send their souls to hell." Strange infatuation 
Ridiculous bigotry ! How infernally prejudiced must the minds of those 
men be, who would wish to destroy their fellow-creatures, not only in this 
world, but, if it were possible, in that which is to come, merely be- 
cause they refused to believe on certain subjects as the Spaniards them 
»el\ cs did- 



APPENDIX. 
EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF JAMES I. 




The Gunpowder Plot 

The papists were so irri'ated at the failure of the Spanish Armada, that 
they were determined, if possible, to project a scheme at home that might 
answer the purposes, in some degree, of their blood-thirsty allies. 
The vigorous administration of Elizabeth, however, prevented their car- 
rying any of their iniquitous designs into execution, although they made 
many attempts with that view. The commencement of the reign of her 
successor was destined to be the era of a plot, the infernal barbarity of 
which transcends every thing related in ancient or modern history. 

In order to crush popery in the most effectual manner in this kingdom, 
James, soon after his accession, took measures for eclipsing the power of 
the Roman catholics, by enforcing those laws which had been made 
against them by his predecessors. This enraged the papists to such a de- 
gree, that a conspiracy was formed to blow up the king, the royal 
family, and both houses of parliament, while in full session, and thus to 
involve the nation in utter and inevitable ruin. 

The infernal cabal who formed the resolution of putting in practice thia 
horrid scheme, consisted of the following persons: Henry Garnet, an Eng- 
lishman, who, about the year 1586, had been sent over as superior of 
the English Jesuits; Catesby, an English gentleman ; Tesmond, a Jesuit; 
Thomas Wright; two gentlemen of the name of Winter; Thomas Percy, 
a near relation of the earl of Northumberland ; Guido Fawkes, a bold and 
enterprising soldier of fortune; sir Edward Digby ; John Grant, Esq.; 
Francis Tresham, Esq.; and Robert Keyes and Thomas Bates, gen- 
tie men. 

Mosfof these were men both of birth and fortune; and Catesby, who had 
a large estate, had expended two thousand pounds In voyages to Spain, 
in order to introduce an army of Spaniards into England, for overturning 
the protectant government, and restoring the Roman catholic religion; 
but, being disappointed in his project of an invasion, he took an opportu- 
nity of disclosing to Percy, who was his intimate friend, and who had 
hinted a design of assassinating the king, a nobler and more exteruiv* 



APPENDIX 489 

Include a sure execution of vengeance, and at 
Hon all their enemies. 
Percy assented to the project proposed by Catesby, and they resolved to im- 



plan of treason, such as would Include a sure execution of vengeance, and at 
one blow consign over to destruction all their enemies. 



part the matter to a few more, and, by degrees, to all the rest of their cabal, 
every man being bound by an oath not to disclose the least syllable of the mat- 
ter or to withdraw from the association, without the consent of all r>er?oiu» 
concerned. 

These consultations were held in the spring and summer of the year 
1604, and it was toward the close of that year that they began their opera 
tions; the manner of which, and the discovery, we shall relate with a 
much brevity as is consistent with perspicuity. 

It had been agreed, that a few of the conspirators should run a mine be- 
Low the hall in which the parliament was to assemble, and that they 
should choose the moment when the king should deliver his speech to 
both houses, for springing the mine, and thus, by one blow, cut off the 
king, the royal family, lords, commons, and all the other enemies of the 
catholic religion, in the very spot where that religion had been most op- 
pressed. For this purpose, Percy undertook to hire a house adjoining to 
the upper house of parliament, with all diligence. This was accordingly 
done, and the conspirators, expecting the parliament would meet on the 
I7th of February, began, on the llth of December, to dig in the cellar, 
through the wall of partition, which was three yards thick. There were 
seven in number joined in this labour : they went in by night, and nevei 
after appeared in sight, for having supplied themselves with provisions, 
they had no occasion to go out. In case of discovery, they had provided 
themselves with powder, shot, and fire-arms, and had formed a resolution 
to die rather than be takeft. 

On Candlemas-day, 1605, they had dug so far through the wall as to be 
able to hear a noise on the other side; upon which unexpected event, 
fearing a discovery, Guido Fawkes, who personated Percy's footman, was 
despatched to know the occasion, and returned with the favourable report, 
that the place from whence the noise Came was a large cellar, under the 
upper house of parliament, full of sea-coal, which was then on sale, and 
the cellar offered to be let. 

On this information, Percy immediately hired the cellar, and bought the 
remainder of the coals : he then sent for thirty barrels of gunpowder from 
Holland, and conveyed them gradually by night to this cellar, where they 
were covered with stones, iron bars, a thousand billets, and five hundred 
fagots; all which they did at their leisure, the parliament being prorogued 
to the 5th of November. 

This being done, the conspirators next consulted how they should se- 
cure the duke of York, afterward Charles I., who was too young to be ex- 
pected in the parliament-house, and his sister the princess Elizabeth, edu- 
cated at lord Harrington's, in Warwickshire. It was resolved that Percy 
and another should enter into the duke's chamber, and a dozen more, pro- 
perly disposed at several doors, with two or three on horse-back at iht 
court-gate to receive him, should carry him safe away as soon as the par 
liament house was blown up; or, if that could not be effected, that the} 
should kill him, and declare the princess Elizabeth queen, having secured 
her, under pretence of a hunting-match, that day. 

Several of the conspirators proposed obtaining foreign aid previous to 
the execution of their design ; but this was over-ruled, and it was agreed 
only to apply to France, Spain, and other powers, for assistance after the 
plot had taken effect: they also resolved to proclaim Elizabeth queen, 
and to spread a report that the puritans were the perpetrators of so inhu- 
man an action. 

All matters being now prepared by the conspirators, they, with the ut- 
most impatience, expected the 5th of November. But all their counsels 
were blasted by a happy and providential circumstance. One of the con- 
spirators, having a desire to save William Parker, lord Monteagle, sent him 
the following letter: 



490 APPENDIX. 

" My Lord, 
" Out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care for your pre. 

servation ; therefore I advise you, as you tender your life, to devise you 
some excuse to shift off your attendance at this parliament; for God and 
nan have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time: and think 
not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into the country, 
where you may expect the event with safety ; for though there be no ap- 
pearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow, this par- 
liament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not 
to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm ; 
for the danger is past so soon, or as quickly, as you burn this letter ; and I 
hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy 
protection I commend you." 

Lord Monteagle was, for some time, at a loss what judgment to form of 
this letter, and unresolved whether he should slight the advertisement or 
not ; and fancying it a trick of his enemies to frighten him into an absence 
from parliament, would have determined on the former, had his own 
safety been only in question : but apprehending the king's life might be 
in danger, he took the letter at midnight to the earl of Salisbury, who was 
equally uncertain about the meaning of it ; and though he was inclined 
to think it merely a waggish contrivance to alarm Monteagle, yet he 
thought proper to consult about it with the earl of Suffolk, lord chamber- 
lain. The expression, "That the blow should come, without knowing 
who hurt them," made them imagine that it would not be more proper 
than the time of parliament, nor by any other way like to be attempted 
than by gunpowder, while the king was sitting in that assembly : the 
lord chamberlain thought this the more probable, because there was a 
great cellar under the parliament chamber (as already mentioned,) never 
used for any thing but wood or coal, belonging to Wineyard, the keeper of 
the palace ; and having communicated the letter to the earls of Notting- 
ham, Worcester, and Northampton, they proceeded no further till the king 
came from Royston, on the 1st of November. 

Hi? majesty being shown the letter by the earls, who, at the same time, 
acquainted him with their suspicions, was of opinion that either nothing 
should be done, or else enough to prevent the danger; and that a search 
should be made on the day preceding that designed for the execution of 
the diabolical enterprise. 

Accordingly, on Monday, the 4th of November, in the afternoon, the 
lord chambei'lain, whose office it was to see all things put in readiness for 
the king's coming, accompanied by Monteagle, went to visit all places 
about the parliament-house, and taking a slight occasion to see the cellar, 
observed only piles of billets and fagots, but in greater number than he 
thought Wineyard could want for his own use. On his asking who owned 
the wood, and being told it belonged to one Mr. Percy, he began to have 
some suspicions, knowing him to be a rigid papist, and so seldom there, 
that he had no occasion for such a quantity of fuel ; and Monteagle con- 
firmed him therein, by observing that Percy had made him great profes- 
Bions of friendship. 

Though there were no other materials visible, yet Suffolk thought it was 
necessary to make a further search; and, upon his return to the a 

resolution was taken that it should be made in such a manner as should 
be effectual, without scandalizing any body, or giving any alarm. 

Sir Thomas Knevet, steward of Westminister, was accordingly ordered, 
under the pretext of searching for stolen tapestry hangings in that place, 
and other houses thereaoout, to remove the wood, and see if any thing 
was concealed underneath. This gentleman going at midnight, with 
several attendants, to the cellar, metFawkes, just coming out of it, booted 
and spurred, with a tinderbox and three matches in his pockets; and 
seizing him without any ceremony, or asking him any questions, as soon 
as the removal of the wood discovered the barrels of gunpowder he caused 
him to be bound, and properly secured. 

Fawk.es, who was a hardened and intrepid villain, made no hesitation 



APPENDIX. 491 

jf avowing the design, and that it was to have been executed on the mor- 
row. He made the same acknowledgment at his examination before a 
committee of the council ; and though he did not deny having some asso- 
ciates In this conspiracy, yet no threats of torture could make him dis- 
cover any of them, he declaring that " He was ready to die, and had 
rather suffer ten thousand deaths, than willingly accuse his master, or 
any other " 

By repeated examinations, however, and assurances of his master's 
being apprehended, he at length acknowledged, "That while he was 
abroad, Percy had kept the keys of the cellar, had been in since the pow- 
der had been laid there, and, in effect, that he was one of the principal 
actors in the intended tragedy." 

In the meantime it was found out, that Percy had come post out of the 
north on Saturday night, the 2d of November, and had dined on Monday 
at Sion-TIouse, with the earl of Northumberland; that Fawkes had met 
him on the road; and that, after the lord chamberlain had been that 
evening in the cellar, he went, about six o'clock, to his master, who had 
fled immediately, apprehending the plot was discovered. 

The news of the discovery immediately spreading, the conspirators fled 
different ways, but chiefly into Warwickshire, where sir Everard Digby 
had appointed a hunting-match, near Dunchurch, to get a number of re- 
cusants together, sufficient to seize the princess Elizabeth ; but this de- 
sign was prevented by her taking refuge in Coventry; and their whole 
party, making about one hundred, retired to Ilolbeach. the seat of sir Ste- 
phen Littleton, on the borders of Staffordshire, having broken open stables, 
and taken horses from different people in the adjoining countries. 

Sir Richard Walsh, high sheriff of Worcestershire, puisued them to Hol- 
beach, where he invested them, and summoned them to surrender. In 
preparing for their defence, they put some moist powder before a fire to 
dry, and a spark from the coals setting it on fire, some of the conspirators 
were so burned in their faces, thighs, and arms, that they were scarcely 
able to handle their weapons. Their case was desperate, and no means 
of escape appearing, unless by forcing their way through the assailants, 
they made a furious sally for that purpose. Catesby, who first proposed 
the manner of the plot, and Percy were both killed. Thomas Winter, 
Grant, Digby, Rookwood, and Bates, were taken and carried to London, 
where the first made a full discovery of the conspiracy. Tresham, lurking 
about the city, and frequently shifting his quarters, was apprehended 
soon after, and, having confessed the whole matter, died of the strangury, 
in the tower. The earl of Northumberland, suspected on account of his 
being related to Thomas Percy, was, by way of precaution, committed to 
the custody of the archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth ; and was after- 
ward fined thirty thousand pounds, and sent to the tower, for admitting 
Percy into the band of gentlemen pensioners, without tendering him the 
oath of supremacy. 

Some escaped to Calais, and arriving there with others who fled to 
avoid a prosecution, which they apprehended on #iis occasion, were 
kindly received by the governor ; but one of them declaring before him, 
that he was not so much concerned at his exile, as that the powder-plot did 
not take effect, the governor was so much incensed at his glorying in such 
an execrable piece of iniquity, that, in a sudden impulse of indignation, 
he endeavoured to throw him into the sea. 

On the 27th of January, 1606, eight of the conspirators were tried and 
convicted; among whom was sir Everard Digby, the only one that 

eaded guilty to the indictment, though all the rest had confessed their 

ilt before. Digby was executed on the 30th of the same month, with 

bert Winter, Grant, and Bates, at the west end of St. Paul's church- 

rd ; Thomas Winter, Keyes, Rookwood, and Fawkes, were executed the 

lowing day in Old Palace-yard. 

Garnet was tried on the 28th of March, "For his knowledge and con- 
ealment of the conspiracy ; for administering an oath of secrecy to the 
onspirators; for persuading them of the lawfulness of the treason, gnfl 



492 



APPENDIX 



for praying for the success of the great action in hand at the beginning of 
the parliament" Being found guilty, he received sentence of death, but 
was not executed till the 3d of May, when, confessing his own guilt, and 
the iniquity of the enterprise, he exhorted all Roman catholics to abstain 
fro.m the like treasonable practices in future. Gerard and Hull, two 
Jesuits, got abroad i and Littleton, with several others, was executed in 
the country. 

Lord Monteagle had a grant of two hundred pounds a year in land, and 
a pension of five hundred pounds for life, as a reward for discovering the 
letter which gave the first hint of the conspiracy ; and the anniversary of 
this providential deliverance was ordered to be forever commemorated 
by prayer and thanksgiving. 

In this affair providence manifestly interposed in behalf of the protest- 
ants, and saved them from that destruction which must have taken place, 
had the scheme succeeded according to the wishes of a bigoted and blood- 
thirsty faction. 



EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. 




Massacre of Protestants in Ireland 



Soon after the commencement of the reformation in England, a spirit of 
Inquiry was au akened in Ireland, and many distinguished prelates began 
openly to exp se the usurpations and blasphemous practices of th« 
Roman church ; among whom was George Broom, archbishop of Dublin, 
Who is justly termed the great Irish reformer. 

Our prescribed limits will not suffer us to trace this devoted and holy 
man through his long and painful struggle with a blinded and bigoted 
populace, but shall only observe that the seeds of reformation sown by 
hiiu, In due time not only led to the wide dissemination of gospel truth, 
but to corresponding scenes of bloodshed and persecution. 

We shall lay before our readers only a short detail of the enormities 
committed by the catholics subsequent to the yea, 1642, which it will b6 
recollected was after the commencement of the reign of Charles 1 

The following is an account of some of their enormities. 



APPENDIX. 493 

In the castle of Lisgool upward of one hundred and fifty men, v orren, 
anu children, were all burnt together ; and at the castle of Moneah i. 1 l**-.t 
than one hundred were put to the sword. Great numbers were ^»ao mur- 
dered at the castle of Tullah, which was deliverer up to M'Guire, on con- 
dition of having fair quarter ; but no sooner had that base villain got p*^*- 
ses3ion of the place, than he ordered his followers to murder the peop.e, 
which was immediately done with the greatest cruelty. 

Many others were put to deaths of the most horrid nature, and such efl 
could have been invented only by demons instead of men. Some of them 
were laid with the centre of their backs on the axletree of a carriage, with 
their legs resting on the ground on one side, and their arms and head on 
the other. In this position one of the savages scourged the wretched ob- 
jects on the thighs, legs, &c, while another set on furious dogs, who tore V 
pieces the arms and upper parts of the body ; and in this dreadful manner 
were they deprived of their existence. 

Great numbers were fastened to horses' tails, and the beasts being set on 
full gallop by their riders, the wretched victims were dragged along till 
they expired. Others were hung on lofty gibbets, and a fire being kindled 
under them, they finished their lives, partly by hanging, and partly by 
suffocation. 

Nor did the more tender sex escape the least particle of cruelty that 
could be projected by their merciless and furious persecutors. Many wo- 
men, of all ages, were put to deaths of the most cruel nature. Some, in 
particular, were fastened with their backs to strong posts, and being strip- 
ped to the waist, the inhuman monsters cut off their right breasts with 
shears, which, of course, put them to the most excruciating torments; and 
in this position they were left, till, from the loss of blood, they expired. 

Such was the savage ferocity of these barbarians, that even unborn in- 
fants were dragged from the womb to become victims to their rage. Many 
unhappy mothers were hung naked on the branches of U-ees, and their 
bodies being cut open, the innocent offspring was taken from them, and 
thrown to dogs and swine. And, to increase the horrid scene, they wouid 
oblige the husband to be a spectator before he suffered himself. 

At the town of Lissenskeath they hanged above one hundred Scottish 
protestants, showing them no more mercy than they did to the English. 

M'Guire, going to the castle o'that town, desired to speak with the go- 
vernor, when, being admitted, he immediately burnt the records of the 
county, which were kept there. He then demanded one thousand pound, 
of the governor, which having received, he immediately compelled him 
to hear mass, and to swear that he would continue so to do. And to com- 
plete his horrid barbarities, he ordered the wife and children of the gover- 
nor to be hung up before his face; besides massacreeing at least one hun- 
dred of the inhabitants. 

Upward of one thousand men, women, and children, were driven, in 
different companies, to Portendown bridge, which was broken in the 
middle, and there compelled to throw themselves into the water; and 
such as attempted to reach the shore were knocked on the head. 

In the same part of the country, at least four thousand persons were 
drowned in different places. The inhuman papists, after first stripping 
them, drove them like beasts to the spot fixed for their destruction ; and if 
any, through fatigue or natural infirmities, were slack in their pace, they 
pricked them with their swords and pikes; and to strike a further terror 
on the multitude, they murdered some by the way. Many of these poor 
creatures, when thrown into the water, endeavoured to save themselves 
by swimming to the shore ; but their merciless persecutors prevented their 
endeavours taking effect, by shooting them in the water. 

In one place one hundred and forty English, after being driven for many 
miles stark naked, and in the most severe weather, were all murdered on 
the same spot, some being hanged, others burnt, some shot, and many of 
them buried alive; and so cruel were their tormentors, that they wouldnot 
suffer them to pray before they robbed them of their miserable existence. 

Other companies they took under pretence of safe-conduct, who, from 

42 



that Consideration, proceeded cheerfully on their journey ; but when thfc 
treacherous papists had got them to a convenient spot, they butchered 
them all in the most cruel manner. 

One hundred and fifteen men, women, and children were conducted, 
by order of sir Phelim O'Neal, to Portendown bridge, where they were all 
forced into the river, and drowned. One woman, named Campbell, finding 
no probaoility of escaping, suddenly clasped one of the chief of the papista 
in her arms, and held him so fast, that they were both drowned together. 

In Killoman they massacred forty-eight families, among whom twenty- 
two were burnt together in one house. The rest were either hanged, shot, 
or drowned. 

In Kill more the inhabitants, which consisted of about two hundred fami- 
lies, all fell victims to their rage. Some of the protestants were set in the 
stocks till they confessed where their money was; after which they were 
put to death. The whole country was one common scene of butchery, and 
many thousands perished, in a short time, by sword, famine, fire, water, 
and all other the most cruel deaths that rage and malice could invent. 

These inhuman villains showed so much favour to some as to despatch 
them immediately; but they would by no means suffer them to pray. 
Others they imprisoned in filthy dungeons, putting heavy bolts on their 
legs, and keeping them there till they were starved to death. 

At Cashel some were barbarously mangled, and left on the highways to 
perish, others were hanged, and some were buried in the ground up- 
right, with their heads above the earth, the papists, to increase their mi- 
sery, treating them with derision during their sufferings. 

In the county of Antrim they murdered 954 protestants in one morning; 
and afterward about 1200 more in that country. 

At a town called Lisnegary, they forced 24 protestants into a house, and 
then setting fire to it, burned them together, counterfeiting their outcries 
in derision to others. mong other acts of cruelty, they took two children 
belonging to an Englishwoman, and dashed out their brains before her 
face; after which they threw the mother into a river, and she was 
drowned. 

In Kilkenny all the protestants, without exception, were put to death ; 
and some of them in so cruel a manner, as, perhaps, was never before 
thought of. They beat an Englishwoman with such barbarity, *hat she 
had scarce a whole bone left; after which they threw her into a u*"*h ; 
but not satisfied with this, they took her child, a girl about six years t>* 
age, and after ripping open its body, threw it to its mother, there to lan- 
guish till it perished. They forced one man to go to mass, after which 
they ripped open his body, and in that manner left him. They sawed 
another asunder, cut the throat of his wife, and after having dashed out 
the brains of their child, an infant, threw it to the swine, who greedily de- 
voured it. After committing these and many other horrid cruelties, they 
took the heads of seven protectants, and among them that of a pious 
minister, all which they fixed up at the market cross. They put a gag 
into the minister's mouth, then slit his cheeks to his ears, and laying a 
leaf of a bible before it, bid him preach, for his mouth was wide enough. 

One of these miserable miscreants would come into a house with his 
hands imbrued In blood, and boast that it was English blood, and that his 
sword had pricked the white skins of the protestants, even to the hilt. 
When any one of them had killed a protestant, others would come and 
receive a gratification in cutting and mangling the body; after which 
they left it to be devoured by dogs; and when they had slain a number 
of them, they would boast that the devil was beholden to them for send- 
ing so many souls to hell ! 

But it is no wonder they should thus treat the innocent Christians, when 
they hesitated not to commit blasphemy against Cod and his most holy 
word. In one place they burnt two protestant bibles, and then said they 
had burnt hell-fire. In the church at Powers-court, they burnt the pulpit, 
pews, chests, and bibles belonging to it. They took other bibles, and, 
after wetting them with dirty water, dashed them in the faces of the 



APPEND!*. 495 

^fotestnnts, saying, " We know you love a good lesson ; here is an. excel- 
?en; one for you ; come to-morrow, and you shall have as good e sermon 
as this." 

In Munster they put to death several ministers In the most shocking 
manner. One, in particular, they stripped stark naked, and driving 
him before them, pricked him with swords and pikes till he fell down, ia&i 
expired. 

In some places they plucked out the eyes, and cut off the hands of the 
protestants, and in that condition turned them into the fields, there to 
linger out the remainder of their miserable existence. They obliged many 
young men to force their aged parents to a river, where they were 
drowned ; wives to assist in hanging their husbands ; and mothers to cul 
the throats of their children. 

At a place called Glaslow, a popish priest, with some others, prevailed' 
on forty protestants to be reconciled to the church of Rome, under the 
vain hope of saving their lives. They had no sooner done this, than the 
deceivers told them they were in a good faith, and that they would pre- 
vent their falling from it and turning heretics, by sending them out of the 
world; which they did by immediately cutting their throats. 

In the county of Tipperary a great number of protestants, men, women, 
and children, fell into the hands of the papists, who, after stripping 
them naked, murdered them with stones, pole-axes, swords, and other 
weapons. 

In the county of Mayo, about sixty protestants, fifteen of whom were 
ministers, were, upon covenant, to be safely conducted to Galway, by one 
Edmund Burke and his soldiers; but that inhuman monster by the way 
drew his sword, as an intimation of his design to the rest, who immediately 
followed his example, and murdered the whole, some of whom they 
etabbed, others were run through the body with pikes, and several were 
drowned. 

In Queen's county great numbers of protestants were put to the most 
shocking deaths. Fifty or sixty were confined together in one house, 
which being set on fire, they all perished in the flames. Many were 
stripped naked, and being fastened to horses by ropes placed round their 
middles, were dragged through bogs till they expired. Some were hung 
by the feet to tenter-hooks driven into poles, and in that wretched posture 
left till they perished. Others were fastened to the trunk of a tree, with a 
branch at the top. Over this branch hung one arm, which principally 
supported the weight. of the body; and one of the legs was turned up, 
and fastened to the trunk, while the other hung straight. In this dreadful 
and uneasy posture did they remain, as long as life would permit, pleasing 
spectacles to their blood-thirsty persecutors. 

At Clownes seventeen men were buried alive; and an Englishman, his 
Wife, five children, and a servant maid, were all hung together, and after- 
ward thrown into a ditch. Several were hung on windmills, and before 
they were half dead, the barbarians cut them in pieces with their swords. 
Others, both men, women, and children, they cut and hacked in various 
parts of their bodies, and left them wallowing in their blood, to perish 
where they fell. One poor woman they hung on a gibbet, with her child, 
an infant about a year old, the latter of whom was hung by the neck with 
the hair of its mother's head, and in that manner finished its short but 
miserable existence. 

In the country of Tyrone no less than three hundred protestants were 
drowned in one day, and many others hanged, burned, and otherwise put to 
death. Dr. Maxwell, rector of Tyrone, lived at this time near Armagh, 
and suffered greatly from these merciless savages. This clergyman, in his 
examination, taken upon oath before the king's commissioners, declared 
that the Irish papists owned to him, that they had destroyed in one place, 
atGlynwood, 12,000 protestants, in their flight from the county of Armagh. 

As the river Bann was not fordable, and the bridge bioken down, the 
Irish forced thither, at different times, a great number of unarmed, de- 
fenceless protestants, and with pikes and swords violently thrust above 



496 APPENDIX. 

1000 into the river, where they miserably perished. Nor did the cathedra. 
oi Armagh escape the fury of these barbarians, it being set on fire by their 
leaders, and burnt to the ground. And to extirpate, if possible, the very 
race of protestants, who lived in or near Armagh, the Irish first burnt all 
their houses, and then gathered together many hundreds of those innocent 
people, young and old, on pretence of allowing them a guard and safe 
conduct to Ooleraine ; when they treacherously fell on them by the way, 
and inhumanly murdered them. 

The like horrid barbarities with those we have particularized, were 
practised on the wretched protestants in almost all parts of the kingdom ; 
and, when an estimate was afterward made of the number massacred by 
papists, it amounted to 150,000. 

These desperate wretches, flushed and grown insolent with success, 
soon got possession of the ca6tle of Newry, where the king's stores and 
ammunition were lodged; and, with as little difficulty, made themselves 
masters of Dundalk. They afterward took the town of Ardee, where they 
murdered all the protestants, and then proceeded to Drogheda. The gar- 
rison of Drogheda was in no condition to sustain a siege ; notwithstanding 
which, as often as the Irish renewed their attacks, they were vigorously 
repulsed, by a very unequal number of the king's forces, and a few faith- 
ful protestant citizens, under sir Henry Tichborne, the governor, assisted 
by the lord viscount Moore. The siege of Drogheda began on the 30th of 
November, 1641, and held till the 4th of March, 1642, when sir Phelim 
O'Neal, and the Irish miscreants under him, were forced to retire. 

In the meantime 10,000 troops weie sent from Scotland to the relief of 
the remaining protestants in Ireland, which being properly divided Into 
various parts of the kingdom, happily suppressed the power of the Irish 
savages and the protestants, for several years, lived in tranquility. 

EVENTS IN THE REIGN OP CHARLES II. 

Burning of the City of London. 

Stimulated by revenge, and prompted by superstition, the papists un 
ceasingly turned their thoughts to obtain their long-wished-for purpose, 
the overthrow of the protestant religion, and the destruction of its ad- 
herents. 

Having failec a sever*! efforts, they thought of a scheme for destroying 
the capital of the kingdom, which they flattered themselves might greatly 
facilitate their intentions : but although, unhappily, their diabolical 
scheme in some measure took place, yet it was n< t productive of the con- 
sequences they ho r .ed and wished for. A great part of the city was, in- 
deed, destroyed ; tJe melancholy particulars of which we shall. copy from 
the London Gazette, published at the time: 

"Whitehall, September 8, 1666. 

"On (he second instant, at 1 o'clock in the morning, there happened to 
break out a sad and deplorable fire, at a baker's, in Pudding-lane, neai 
Fish-street, which falling out at that hour of the night, and in a quarter ol 
the town so close built with wooden pitched houses, spread itself so far 
before day, and with such distraction to the inhabitants and neighbours, 
that care was not taken for the timely preventing the further diffusion of 
it, by pulling down houses, as ought to have been ; so that this lamentable 
fire, in a short time, became too big to be mastered by any engines, or 
working near it It fell out most unhappily too, that a violent easterly 
Wind fomented it, and kept it burning all that day, and the night follow- 
ing, spreading itself up to Gracechurch-street, and downward from Can- 
non-street to the water-side, as far as the Three Cranes in the Vlntry. 

"The people, in all parts about it, were distracted by the vastness of it 
and their particular care to carry away their goods. Many attempt* 
were made to prevent the spreading of it, by pulling down houses, and 



APPENDIX. 



497 



makirg great intervals, but all in vain, the fire seizing upon the timber 
and rubbish, and so continuing itself, even through those spaces, and 
raging in a bright flame all Monday and Tuesday, notwithstanding his 
majesty's own, and his royal highness' indefatigable and personal pains 
to apply all possible remedies to prevent it, calling upon, and helping the 
people with tlv ir guards, and a great number of nobility and gentry un- 
weariedly assisting therein, for which they were requited with a thou- 
sand blessings from the poor distressed people. 

"By the favour of God, the wind slackened a little on Tuesday night» 
■nd the flames meeting with brick buildings at the Temple, by little and 
Httle it was observed to lose its force on that side, so that on Wednesday 
morning we began to hope well, and his royal highness never despairing, 
or slackening his personal care, wrought so well that day, assisted in 
some parts by the lords of the council before and behind .% that a step 
was put to it at the Temple church; near Holborn bridge; Pie-corner, 
Aldersgate; Cripple gate ; near the lower end of Coleman-street; at the 
end of Basinghall-street, by the Postern : at the upper end of Bishops gate- 
street, and Leadenhall-street ; at the standard in Cornhill ; at the church 
in Fenchurch-street ; near Clothvvorkers'-hall in Mincing-lane; at the 
middle of Mark-lane, and at the Tower-dock. 

" On Thursday, by the blessing of God, it was wholly beat down and ex- 

jguished ; but so as that evening it unhappily burst out again afresh at 
ne Temple, by the falling of . ■come sparks (as is supposed,) upon a pile of 
uooden buildings ; but his royal highness, who watched there that whole 
flight in person, by the great labours and diligence used, and especially 
by applying powder to Mow up the houses about it, before day most hap- 
pily mastered it. 

"His majesty then sat hourly in council, and ever since hath continued 
making rounds about the city, in all parts of it where the danger and mis- 
chief was the greatest, till this morning that he hath sent his grace the 
duke of Albemarle, whom he hath called f;r to assist him on this great oc- 
casion, to put his happy and successful hand to the finishing this memo- 
ble deliverance." 

During the progress of this dreadful conflagration, orders w T ere given for 
pulling down various houses in the tower of London, in order to preserve 
the grand magazine of gunpowder in that fortress; to the preservation 
of which, however, the violent easterly wind contributed more than the 
precaution. 

Many thousands of citizens, who, by this calamity, were deprived of 
their habitations, retired to the fields, destitute of all necessaries, and ex- 
posed to the inclemency of the weather, till a sufficient number of tents or 
huts could be erected for their reception. In order to mitigate the dis- 
tresses of the people, a great quantity of naval bread was distributed 
among them ; and a proclamation issued commanding the magistrates of 
the city to encourage the bringing in of all kinds of provisions. 

By the certificate of Jonas Moore and Ralph Gatrix, the surveyors ap- 
pointed to examine the ruins, it appeared that this dreadful fire overrun 
436 acres of ground within the walls, and burnt 13,200 houses, 89 parish 
churches, beside chapels; and that only 11 parish churches within the 
walls were left standing. 

To this account of its devastations may also be added the destruction of 
St. Paul's cathedral, Guildhall, the Royal Exchange, Custom-house, and 
Blackw ell- hall; many hospitals and libraries, 52 halls of the city compa- 
nies, and a great number of other stately edifices; together with three of 
the city gates, and the prisons of Newgate, the Fleet, the Poultry and 
Wood-street Compters ; the loss of which, by the best calculation, amounted 
to upward of ten millions sterling. Yet, notwithstanding all this destruc- 
tion, only six persons lost their lives. 

Various were the conjectures of the people on the cause of this singular 
jalamity : at first some imagined it to be casual, but, from a train of cir- 
cumstances, it afterward appeared to have been done from thu malice and 
horrid contrivances ef the papists. Several suspected persons were '-ake-c 

42* 



£98 APPEiroix. 

into custody ; but, although there were very strong presumptions, no posl 
iive proof being produced against them, they were discharged. 

Life and Death of Sir Edmund bury Godfrey. 




This great and good man was descended from an ancient and respecta- 
i i family in the county of Kent, who gave him an education suitable tc 
Ins bhth and quality. He received the first rudiments of learning at West- 
minster school, and finished his studies at the university of Oxford. In 
-der to improve himself still more, he travelled into foreign countries, 
and, during his residence there, was as careful to avoid immorality as he 
was to escape from the delusion of the false worship practised there. 
From me sound principles of religion and virtue which he had imbibed 
from his parents and instructors, lie was sufficiently armed against both; 
and returned i;otne rather informed than corrupted. 

On his return to England, he entered himself a member of Gray's Inn, 
where, by diligent application, he soon acquired a competent knowledge 
of the laws of his countrv. His intention was, to have obtained a situation 
at the bar; but having * natural defect in his hearing, he thought it 
would be an impediment ij nis progress; and, therefore, after continuing 
some years at thv> Inn, he left it, and retired to his friends in the 
country. 

Being naturally of an active disposition, he soon became weary of soli- 
tude, and determined to undertake some enterprise, in which his time 
might be usefully employed. He accordingly left the country, and came 
to London, where lie entered into partnership with a person who kept a 
WOOd-wharl near Dowgate. 

After prosecuting this business for awhile, with profit to himself as wel 
as to the community in general, his integrity was noticed by some persona 
of distinction, who recommended him to the king; by whom he was ap 
pointed a magistrate for the city of Westminster, in which capacity he 
Berved until his death. 

As a city magistrate, perhaps no man was ever more distinguished for 
Ir justry, integrity, and every other virtue, that could render him worthy 
»f esteem : for in addition ;o Ins other acts of benevolence and charity, he 



APPENDIX. 



499 



remained In London during the awful visitation of the plague In 1777, 
and, at the eminent hazard of his own life, was found constantly at his 
post, as the guardian both of the living and the dead. There are many 
Instances still on record of his heroic conduct during that awful period, 
which serve to elevate his name among the noblest benefactors of man- 
Kind. 

From a strict attention to business, and the natural fatigue consequent 
thereupon, sir Edmundbury Godfrey, in the year 1678, became so reducea 
by bodily illness, that his life was apparently in danger. He was there 
fore advised by his physicians to go to Montpelier, in France, the air of 
that country being esteemed an almost certain restorative to decayed con 
etitutions. He accordingly took their advice, and after residing there a 
few months, returned to England greatly benefited by his excursion. 

But the pains he thus took to preserve that life, which had hitherto been 
so remarkably beneficial to great numbers of his fellow creatures, were al 1 
lost by a most horrid plot, which was discovered soon after his return, and 
which exposed him to an untimely and cruel death. 

This horrid conspiracy was formed by the papists, and Is distinguishec* 
in the annals of England by the name of the Popish Plot. It was saia 
that the design of the conspiracy was to kill the king, to subvert the 
government, to extirpate the protestant religion, and to establish popery 

The authors and promoters of the plot were said to be the pope and car- 
dinals, the Romish, French, Spanish and English Jesuits, the seminary 
priests in England, who at this rime came over in great numbers, anc 
several popish lords, and others .if that party. The duke of York him 
self was deeply suspected of being concerned in it, except that part ol 
killing the king; and that point excepted, the king himself was supposec 
to have favoured the conspiracy. The article of taking off the king ap- 
peared to be only the project of a part of the conspirators, to make way 
for the duke of York to ascend the throne, who was more forward, active, 
and less fearful than the king, and consequently more likely to bring the 
grand design of the conspiracy, the changing of the government and reli- 
gion, to a speedier conclusion. 

The chief discoverer of this conspiracy was one Titus Oates, who had 
formerly been a clergyman of the church of England, but had now recon- 
ciled himself to the church of Rome, or at least pretended so to do, and 
entered into the number of the English seminarists at St. Omer's. He also 
went into Spain, and was admitted to the counsels of the Jesuits. By these 
means he became acquainted with ail the secret designs that were carry- 
ing on, in order to establish popery in this nation : and then returning to 
England, he digested the several matters he had heard into a narrative, 
and by the means of Dr. Tonge, a city divine, got a copy of it delivered to 
the king, who referred him to the lord treasurer Danby. 

These two informers, finding the king did not take much notice of theii 

discovery, resolved to communicate it to the parliament; previous to 

which Oates went and made oath of the truth of the narrative before sir 

Edmundbury Godfrey, leaving one copy of it with him, and reserving 

nother for himself. 

The affair having now taken wind, it was resolved to bring it before the 
council, who accordingly sat twice a day for a considerable period to exa- 
mine into it; and Tonge and Oates had lodgings assigned them in White- 
hall, with a handsome allowance to each for their maintenance, and a 
guard for the security of their persons 

On their informations several persons were apprehended, particularly 
one Wakeman, the queen's physician, and Coleman, the duke of York's 
secretary. In the latter's house were found several letters which seemed 
to concur with Oates' testimony, and gave great weight to what he ad- 
vanced. This, with the murder of sir Edmundbury Godfrey soon after, 
who had taken Oates' oath to his narrative, confirmed the people in then 
belief of the plot. 

Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had been remarkably active in his office 
gainst the papists, to whom his murder was immediately ascribed : and 



500 



APPENDIX. 



the truth was confirmed by the evidence of Bedloe and Prance , the lattei 
of whom deposed, that, -'After sir Edmundbury had several days been 
dogged by the papists, they at last accomnlished their wicked design, on 
Saturday, October 12, 1078, and under pretence of a quarrel, which they 
knew his care lor the public peace would oblige him to prevent, about 
3 o'clock at night, as he was going home, got him into the Water-Gate at 
Somerset- House. When he was thus trepanned in, and got out of hearing 
from the street, toward the lower end of the yard, Green, one of the assas- 
sins, threw a twisted handkerchief round his neck, and drew him behind 
the rails, when three or four more of them immediately falling on him, 
there they throttled him ; and lest that should not be enough, punched 
and kicked him on the breast, as sufficiently appeared, when his body was 
found, by the marks upon it ; and lest he should not be yet dead enough, 
another of them, Girald, or Fitzgerald, would have run him through, but 
was hindered by the rest, lest the blood should have discovered them. 
But Green, to make sure work, wrung his neck round, as it was found 
afterward bn the inspection of the surgeons. 

" For the disposal of the body, they all carried it up into a little chamber 
of Hill's, another of the murderers, who had been, or was, Dr. Godwin' 
man, where it lay till Monday night, when they removed it into another 
room, and thence back again till Wednesday, when they carried him out 
in a sedan about 12 o'clock, and afterward upon a horse, with Hill behind 
him, to support him, till they got to Primrose-Hill, or, as it is called by 
some, Green-Bury-Hill, near a public house, called the White House, and 
there threw him into a ditch, with his gloves and cane on a bank near 
him, and his own sword run through him, on purpose to persuade the 
world he had killed himself. Very cunningly making choifce of a place 
to lay him where they might both think he would be some time concealed, 
and near where he had been seen walking the same day." The body waa 
accordingly found there several days afterward. 

Thus died that good man, and wise magistrate, sir Edmundbury God- 
frey, who fell a martyr to the diabolical machinations of some wicked 
anil blood-thirsty papists. His body was interred with great solemnity in 
the church of St. Martin-ln-the-Fields; and he was attended to the grave 
by an incredible number of lamenting spectators. 

This horrid conspiracy engaged the whole attention of the parliament, 
who addressed the king to remove all popish recusants out of the cities of 
London and Westminster, and from within ten miles of them : and in 
anothei address they besought his majesty to take care of his royal per- 
son ; that he would command the lord-mayor and lieutenancy of London 
to appoint proper guards of the trained bands during the sitting of parlia- 
ment ; and that the lords lieutenants of the counties of Middlesex and 
Surry should appoint sufficient guards in Middlesex, Westminster, and 
South w ark. 

The houses attended to no other business but this plot; and so warmly 
did they enter into the matter, that several days they sat from morning 
till night examining Oates, and other witnesses. At length, on the 31st of 
October, 1678, they unanimously resolved, "That the lords and commons 
are of opinion, that there hath been, and still is, a damnable and hellish 
plot, contrived and carried on by popish recusants, for assassinating and 
murdering the king, for subverting the government, and rooting out and 
destroying the protestant religion." 

These opinions were further confirmed by a circumstance which hap- 
pened soon after; for, about the beginning of May, 1679, the citizens dis- 
covered a plot, formed by the Jesuits and other papists, for destroying the 
city of London a second time by fire One Elizabeth Oxley, a servant In 
Fetter-lane, having set fire to her master's house, was apprehended and 
committed to prison, when she confessed the fact, and declared that she 
had been hired to do it by one Stubbs, a papist, who was to give her Ave 
pounds as a reward. 

Stubbs heing immediately secured, confessed that he had persuaded her 
.o it : but that he himself had been prevailed on by one father Gifford hi* 



APPENDIX. 501 

confessor, who, he said, assured him that instead of its being a aln, It 
Would he a great service to the " Holy Catholic Church," to bum and de- 
stroy all the houses of heretics ; saying, that he had conversed many 
times on that affair with Clifford, and two Irishmen. And the maid and 
Stubbs jointly declared that the papists intended to rise in London, in ex- 
pectation of being assisted by a powerful army from France. 

Soon after this, a prosecution being commenced against several of «.be 
Jesuits who were concerned in the plot, five of them were convicted ani 
executed ; and several lords being also impeached of the same, were com- 
mitted prisoners to the tower. 

The parliament meeting on the 21st of October, the lord Stafford, who 
was one of those impeached of being concerned in the popish plot, was 
brought to h:s trial; and being convicted of high-treason, received sen- 
tence to be hanged and quartered. The king, however, as is usual in such 
cases, remitted this sentence, und left Stafford to be beheaded ; but the 
zeal of the two sheriffs of London started a doubt as to the king's power 
of mitigating the sentence in any part. They proposed queries on this 
point to both houses; the peers deemed them superfluous; and the com- 
mons, apprehensive lest an examination into these queries might produce 
the opportunity of Stafford's escape, expressed themselves satisfied with 
the manner of execution, by severing his head from his body. 

The Meal-tub Plot. 

In a very short time after the before-mentioned conspiracies, a sham 
plot was discovered to have been formed by the papists, in order to throw 
off the odium they had justly acquired, and to place it on the presby- 
terians. 

One Dangerfield, a fellow who had suffered almost every punishmen 
the law could inflict on the most abandoned, was tutored for the purpose. 

The catholic party released Nm out of Newgate, where he was impri 
soned for debt, and set him to work. He pretended to have been privy to 
a design for destroying the king and the royal family, and converting the 
Government into a commonwealth. The king and his brother counte- 
nanced the tale, and rewarded him for his discovery, with a sum of mo 
ney ; but certain papers which he produced in evidence of his assertions 
appearing upon his examination to be forged by himself, he was p*, 
under an arrest. All his haunts were ordered to be searched; and in t l 
house of one Mrs. Collier, a midwife, a Roman catholic, and an intimafr 
acquaintance of his, was found the model of the pretended plot, writti r 
very fair, neatly made up in a book, tied with a riband, and concealed n 
a meal-tub, from whence it acquired the name of the Meal-tub Plot. 

Dange-field, finding himself thus detected, applied to the lord-mayoi 
made an ample confession of the imposition, and discovered his em 
ployers. 

The detection cf this contrivance so irritated the populace in genera 
against the papists, that i* f*iied much to the whimsical solemnity of 
burning the effigy of the pope; for, on the 17th of November, the anni- 
versary of queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne, the ceremony was 
performed with the most singular pomp and magnificence: and every 
mark was shown by the people, that could demonstrate their abhorrence 
of popery. 

Thus were all these diabolical schemes, projected by the papists to in- 
jure the protestants. happily rendered abortive; but we must not quit this 
6ubject, without taking notice, that, on the accession of James II. to the 
English throne, the famous Titus Oates, who was so materially concerned 
in the discovery of the popish plot, was tried for perjury on two indict- 
ments ; and being found guilty, was sentenced to be fined one thousand 
marks for each ; to be whipped on two different days, from Aldgate to 
Newgate, and from Newgate to Tyburn; to be imprisoned during life, 
and to stand on the pillory five times every year. He made the most 
•olemn appeals to heaven, and the strongest protestations of the veracit 



502 



APPENDIX. 



of his testimony. The whipping was so severe, that he swooned several times, 
and it was evidently the design of the court to have put him to death hy 
that punishment He was, however, enabled, by the care of his friends to re- 
cover; and he lived till William III. came to the throne, when he was released 
from his confinement, and had a pension allowed him of one hundred pounds 
per annum. 

EVENTS IN THE REIGN OP JAMES II. 



Account of the Insurrection, Defeat, and Execution of the Duke 
of Monmouth, the Earl of Argyle, and their followers. 

The duke of York having ascended the throne by the title of Jh.nes IJ.. 
soon began to manifest his tyrannical intentions against religion ar ; 
liberty. He seemed inclined to place himself and his government entirely 
in the hands of the Jesuits ; and such was his zeal for the Roman catholr. 
religion, that pope Innocent XI., to whom he had sent lord Castlemaine 
as ambassador, cautioned him not to be too hasty. While James was in- 
dulging himself in the prospect of subverting the established religion, the 
duke of Monmouth, who, on the death of lord Russel, had gone over to 
Flanders, trusting to the regard he had always enjoyed among the pro- 
testants, formed the design of bringing about a revolution. To the imme- 
diate execution of this rash and unhappy enterprise, which his own judg- 
ment led him to wish deferred, he was chiefly instigated by the active 
spirit of the earl of Argyle. Having prepared a squadron of six vessels, 
badly manned, and very ill supplied, they divided, and with three each, 
sailed for th places of their destination : Monmouth landed at Lyme, in 
Dorsetshire, on the Uth of June 1685, with 150 men, and marching thence 
to Taunton, his army increased to 6000; beside which, he was obliged to 
dismiss great numbers for want of arms. 

In the meanwhile, the earl of Argyle had landed in Argyleshire, wiiero 
he found the militia prepared to oppose him. But being immediately 
joined by his brave vassals and partisans, he penetrated into the western 
counties, hoping to be joined by the disaffected covenanters. Rut hit 
little squadron being captured, and his brave followers having lost their 
baggage in a morass in Renfrewshire, were necessitated to disperse for 
Immediate preservation. The unfortunate nobleman assumed a disguise, 
but he was taken by two peasants, and conduc ed to Edinburgh, where he 
was executed, without a trial, on an unjust sentence which had been 
formerly pronounced on him. 

The news of the defeat of this nobleman no sooner reached the duke of 
Monmouth than he sunk into despondency. He now saw the temerity of 
bis undertaking, and endeavoured to provide for his safety and that of his 
army. He therefore retieuled to Rridgevvater, the royal army being in 
his rear. Here he afejended a tower, from whence viewing the army of 
lord Feversham, his hopes &gain revived, while he meditated an attack. 
He made the most skilful arrangements, but committing an important 
post to lord Grey, that dastardly soldier betrayed him, and, notwithstand- 
ing the courage of his troops, who repulsed the forces of the king, and 
drove them from the field, a want of ammunition prevented them from 
pursuing their advantages, the royal troops rallied, dispersed their adver- 
saries, and slew about 1500 of them in the battle and pursuit. 

Monmouth, seeing the conflict hopeless, galloped off the held, and con- 
tinued his flight until his horse sunk under him, wnen the unfortunate 
prince wandered on foot for a few miles, and then sunk down, overcome 
with hunger and fatigue. He was shortly afterward discovered, lying in 
a ditch, almost senseless. He burst into tears when seized by his enemies, 
and being still anxious to preserve his life, for the sake of his wife ami 
children, wrote very submissively to James, conjuring him to spare the 



AI'PENUIX. 503 

fesue of a brother who had always shown himself firmJy attached to hla 
Interest. The king finding him thus depressed, admitted him imo his pre- 
sence, with the hope of extorting from him a discovery of his accomplices. 
Monmouth, however, scorned to purchase life at the price of so much in- 
famy. Finding that all efforts 10 excite the compassion of James were 
fruitless, he prepared himself for death, and on the 15th of July waa 
brought to the scaffold. Previously to his death, he said that he repented 
of his sins, and was more particularly concerned for the blood that had 
been spilt oa his account. He conjured the executioner to spare him the 
seo nd blow; but the man, whose heart was unfit for his office, struck 
him feebly, on which the duke, gently turning himself round, cast a look 
of tender reproach upon him, and then again meekly submitted his head 
to the axe; the executioner struck him again and again to no purpose, 
and then threw aside the axe, declaring that he was incapable of com- 
pleting the bloody task. The sheriff, however, obliged him to renew the 
attempt, and by two blows more the head was severed from the body. 

After the defeat of the duke of Monmouth, thirty prisoners were imme- 
diately tried and executed. Most of the others, terrified with this example, 
pleaded guilty ; and no less than two hundred and ninety-two received 
sentence at Dorchester. Of these, eightty were executed. In Exeter two 
hundred and forty-three were tried, of whom a great number were con- 
demned and executed. Beside those who were butchered by the military 
commanders, two hundred and fifty -one are computed to have fallen by 
the hand of justice. The whole country was strewed with the heads and 
limbs of traitors. Every village, almost, beheld the dead carcass of a 
wretched inhabitant. And all the rigours of justice, unabated by any ap- 
pearance of clemency, were fully displayed to the people by the inhuman 
Jeffreys, the then chief justice. 

Of all the executions during this dismal period, the most remarkable 
were those of Mas. Gaunt and Lady Lisle, who had been accused of har- 
bouring traitors. Mrs. Gannt was an anabaptist, noted for her beneficence,, 
which she extended to persons of all professions and persuasions. One 
of the rebels, knowing her humane disposition, had recourse to, and was 
concealed by her. Hearing of the proclamation, which offered an indem- 
nity and rewards to such as discovered criminals, he betrayed his bene- 
factress, and bore evidence against her. He received a pardon, as a re- 
compense for his treachery; she was burned alive for her charity, on the 
23d of October, 1685. 

Lady Lisle was widow of one of the regicides, who had enjoyed great 
favour and authority, under Cromwell, who, having fled, after the resto- 
ration, to Lauzanne, in Switzerland, was there assassinated by three Irish 
ruffians, who hoped to make their fortune by this piece of service. His 
widow was now prosecuted for harbouring two rebels the day after the 
battle of Sedgemoore; and Jeffreys pushed on the trial with unrelenting 
violence. In vain did the aged prisoner plead that these criminals had 
Deen put into no proclamation ; had been convicted by no verdict; that it 
appeared not that she was acquainted with the guilt of the persons, or had 
heard of their joining the rebellion of Monmouth : that though she might 
be obnoxious on account of her family, it was well known that her heart 
was ever loyal, and that no person in England had shed more tears for 
the tragical event, in which her husband had unfortunately borne too 
great a share: and that the same principles which she herself had em- 
braced, she had instilled into her son, and had sent him to fight against 
those rebels whom she was now accused of harbouring. Though these 
arguments did not move Jeffreys, they had influence on the jury. Twice 
they seemed inclined to bring in a favourable verdict : they were as often 
sent back with menaces and reproaches, and at last were constrained to 
give sentence against the prisoner. And notwithstanding all applications 
for pardon, she was shortly after executed at Winchester. 



504 APPENDIX. 



EVENTS EST THE EEIGN OF WILLIAM m. 

Siege of Londonderry. 

After James II. had abandoned England, he maintained a contest foi 
some time in Ireland, where he did all in his power to carry on that per 
secution which he had been happily prevented from persevering in, m 
England: accordingly, in a parliament held at Dublin, in 1CS&, great 
numbers of the prot^stant nobility, clergy, and gentry of Ireland, were 
attainted of high treason. The government of the kingdom was, at that 
time, invested in the earl of Tyrconnel, a bigoted papist, and an inveterate 
enemy to the protestants. By his orders they were again persecuted in 
various parts of the kingdom. And bad it not been for the resolution and 
Pi avery of the garrisons in Londonderry, and Inniskillen, there had not 
one place remained for refuge to the distressed protestants in the whole 
kingdom; but all must have been given up to James, and to the popish 
party that governed him. 

The remarkable siege of Londonderry was opened on the 18th of April, 
1689, by 20.000 papists, the flower of the Irish army. The city was not 
properly circumstanced to sustain a siege, the defenders consisting of a 
body of undisciplined protestants, who had fled thither for shelter, and 
half a regiment of lord Mountjoy's soldiers, with the inhabitants, making 
in all only 7361 fighting men. 

The besieged hoped, at first, that their stores of corn, and other necessa- 
ries, would be sufficient; but by the continuance of the siege their wants 
increased; and these at last became so heavy, that for a. considerable time 
before the siege was raised, a pint of coarse barley, a small quantity of 
greens, a few spoonsful of starch, with a very moderate portion of horse- 
flesh, were reckoned a week's provision for a soldier. At length to such 
extremities were they reduced, they ate dogs, cats, and mice; and it is 
remarkable, that when their long-expected succours arrived from Eng- 
land, they were upon the point of being reduced to this alternative, either 
to preserve their existence by eating each other, or attempting to fight 
their way through the Irish, which must have infallibly produced their 
destruction. These succours were brought by the ship Mountjoy, of 
Derry, and the Phtenix, of Coleraine, at which time they had only nine 
iean horses left, with a pint of meal to each man. By hunger, and the 
fatigues of war, their 7361 righting men were reduced to 4300, one fourth 
part of whom were rendered unserviceable. 

As the calamities of the besieged were very great, so likewise were the 
terrors and sufferings of their protestant friends and relations; all of whom 
were forcibly diiven from thfl country 30 miles round, and inhumanly re- 
duced to the sad necessity of continuing some days and nights, without 
food or covering, before the walls of the town ; and were thus exposed to 
the continual fire both of the Irish army from without, and the shot of 
their friends from within. But the succours from England happily ar- 
riving, put an end to their affliction ; and the siege was raised on the 31st 
of .July, having been continued upward of three months. 

The day before the siege of Londonderry was raised, the Inniskillenera 
engaged a body of 600U Irish Roman catholics, at Crown Castle, of whom 
near 5000 were slain. This, with the defeat at Londonderry, so much dis- 
pirited the papists, that they gave up all further attempts at that time to 
Dersecute the protestants 

In the year following, 1690, thr; Irish who had taken up arms in favour 
of James II., wese totally d 1 by William III. ; and that monarch, 

before he left the country, redu -e<l them to a state of subjection, in which 
they long continued, at least so far as to refrain from open violence, al- 
though they were still insidiously engaged in increasing their power and 
Influence 



APPENDIX. 



EVENTS IN FRANCE. 



505 



Persecutions of the Protestants in the south of France, in the years 
1814 and 1820. 

The persecution of this protestant part of France had continued with 
very little intermission from the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis 
XIV., tiil a very short period previous to the commencement of the late 
French revolution. In the yeai 1785, M. Rebaut, St. Etienne fjid the cele- 
brated La Fayette were among the first persons who interestea themselves 
with the court of Louis XVI., in removing the scourge of persecution from 
this injured people, the inhabitants of the south of France. 

Such was the opposition on the part of the catholics and the courtiers, 
that it was not till the end of the year 1790, that the protestants were freed 
from their alarms. Previously to this, the catholics at Nismes in particu- 
lar, had taken up arms: Nismes then presented a frightful spectacle ; 
armed men ran through the city, fired from the corners of the streets, and 
attacked all they met with swords and forks. The citizens that fled were 
arrested by the catholics upon the roads, and obliged to give proofs of their 
religion before their lives were granted. The atrocities provoking the 
troops to unite in defence of the people, a terrible vengeance was retalia- 
ted upon the catholic party that had used arms, which, with other cir- 
cumstances, especially the toleration exercised by Napoleon Buonaparte, 
kept them down completely till the year 1814, when the unexpected re- 
turn of the ancient government rallied them all once more round the 
old banners. 

This was known at Nismes on the 13th of April, 1814. In a quarter of 
an hour, the white cockade was seen in every direction, the white flag 
floated on all the public buildings, on the splendid monuments of antiqui- 
ty, and even on the tower of Magne, beyond the city walls. The protest- 
ants were among the first to unite in the general joy, and to send in their 
adhesion to the senate and the legislative body ; and several vf the protest- 
ant uepartments sent addresses to the throne; but unfortunately, the 
blindness and fury of the sixteenth century rapidly succeeded the intelli- 
gence and philanthropy of the nineteenth. A line of distinction was traced 
between men of different religious opinions: the difference of religion 
was now to govern, every thing else; and even catholic domestics who 
had served protestants with zeal and affection, began to neglect their du 
ties, or to perform them ungraciously. The bigots of Nismes even suc- 
ceeded in procuring an address to be presented to the king, stating that 
there ought to be in France but one God, one King, and one Faith. In this 
they were imitated by the catholics of several towns. 

Napoleon's return from the Isle of Elba. 

Soon after this event, the duke d'Angoleme was at Nismes, and re- 
mained there some time; but even hu influence was insufficient to bring 
about a reconciliation between the catholics and the protestants of that 
city. During the hundred days between Napoleon's return from the Isle 
of Elba and his final downfall, not a single life was lost in Nismes, not a 
single house was pillaged: only four of the most notorious disturbers of 
the peace were punished, or rather prevented from doing mischief; and 
even this was not an act of the protestants, but the arrete of the catholic 
prefect, announced every where with the utmost publicity. 

The Catholic arms of Beaucaire. 

In May 1815, a federative association similar to those of Lyons, Greno- 
ble, Paris, Avignon, and Montpelier, was desired by many persons at 

4o 



606 APPENLIX. 

Nismes; but this federation terminated here after an ephemeral existence 

of fourteen days. In the meanwhile a large party of catholic zealots 
were in arms at Beaucaire, who soon pushed their patrols so near the 
walls of Nismes ( as to alarm the inhabitants.' These catholics applied to 
the English of Marseilles for assistance, and obtained the grant of 1000 
muskets, 10,000 cartouches, &c. General Giily, however, was soon sent 
against these partisans, who prevented them from coming to extremes by 
granting them an armistice ; and yet when Louis XV11I. had returned to 
Paris after the expiration of Napoleon's reign of a hundred days, and 
peace and party spirit seemed to have been subdued, even at Nismes, 
bands from Beaucaire joined Trestaillon in that city, to glut the vengeance 
they had so long premeditated. General Gilly had left the department 
several days; the troops of the line left behind had taken the white 
cockade, and waited further orders, while the royal commissioners had 
only to proclaim the cessation of hostilities, and the complete establish- 
ment of the king's authority. No commissioners appeared, no despatches 
arrived to calm and regulate the public mind ; but toward evening the 
advanced guard of the banditti, to the amount of several nundreds, en- 
tered the eiry, undesired, but unopposed. As they marohec without o> jer 
or discipline, armed with muskets, sabres, forks, pistols, and r^J iing 
hooks, intoxicated with wine, and stained with the blood of the •: j-p.zt- 
ants whom they had murdered on their route, they presented a most 
hideous and appalling spectacle. In the open place in the front of the 
barracks, this banduti was joined by the city armed mob, headed by 
Jacques Dupont, commonly called Tresta ; llon. To save the effusion of 
blood, the garrison consented to capitulate, and marched out sad and de- 
fenceless; but when about fifty had passed, the rabble commenced a fire 
on their unprotected victims; nearly all were killed or wounded, and but 
very few could re-enter the yard before the garrison gates were again 
closed. These were forced in an instant, and all were massacred who could 
not climb over roofs, or leap into the adjoining gardens, in a word, death 
met them in every place and in every shape, *md this catholic massacre 
rivalled in cruelty the crimes of the Septembei < asassins of Paris, and the 
Jacobinical butcheries of Lyons and Avignon, it was marked, not only 
by the fervour of the Revolution, but by the subtlety of the league, and 
will long remain a blot upon the history of the serund res oration. 

Nismes now exhibited a most awful scene of outrage and carnage. 
Though many of the protestants had fled, ihe barbarities committed were 
too numerous for us to record ; and many of the actions of this band of 
assassins wen v .oo gross for rehearsal in our pages. 

Interference of Government against the Protestants. 

M. Bernis, extraordinary royal Commissioner, in couseqnence of these 
abuses, issued a proclamation which reflects disgrace on the authority 
from which it emanated " Considering," it said, " that the residence 
of citizens in places foreign to their domicile can only be prejudicial to the 
communes they have left, and tb those to which they have repaired, it ia 
ordered that those inhabitants who have quitted their residence since the 
commencement of July, return home by trie 28th at the latest, otherwise 
they shall be deemed accomplices of the evil-disposed persons who disturb 
the public tranquillity, and their property shall be placed under provi- 
sional sequestration. 

The fugitives had sufficient inducements to return to their hearths, 
without fear of sequestration. They were more anxious to embrace their 
fathers, mothers, wives, and children, and to resume their ordinary occu- 
pations, than M. Bernis could be to ensure their return. But this de- 
nouncing men as criminals who fled for safety from the sabres of assa-sins, 
was adding oil to the fire of persecution. On this occasion it was re- 
marked tha: ' The system of specious and deceptive proclamations wa8 
perfectly uiojrstood, and had long been practised in Languedoc; it was 
tunc too late to p&rsecute the protestants simply for their religion. Even 



APPENDIX. 507 

in the good time? of Loul : XIV. there was public opinion enough to make 
lhai arch lyrani have recourse w> the meanest stratagems." 

Royal Decree in favour of the Persecuted. 

At length the decree of Louis XVIII., which annulled all the extraordi- 
nary powers conferred either by the king, the princes, or subordinate 
agents, was received at Nismes, and the laws were now to be adminis- 
tered by the regular organs, and a new prefect arrived to carry them into 
effect ; but in spUe of proclamations, the work of destruction, stopped for 
a moment, was not abandoned, but soon renewed with fresh vigour and 
effect. If murder some time after became less frequent for a few days, 
pillage and forced contributions were actively enforced. Desolation 
reigned in the sanctuary, and in the city. Those protestants who re- 
mained were deprived of all their civil and religious rights. The protest- 
ant deacons who had the charge of the poor were all scattered. Of five 
pastors only two remained; one of these was obliged to change his resi- 
dence, and could only venture to administer the consolations of religion, 
or perform the functions of his ministry, under cover of the night. Hun- 
dreds were dragged to prison without even so much as a written order ; 
and an Official Newspaper, bearing the title of the Journal du Gard, re- 
presented the suffering protestants as " Crocodiles, only weeping from 
rage and regret that they had no more victims to devour; as persons who 
had surpassed Danton, Marat, and Robespierre in doing mischief: and aa 
having prostituted their daughters to the garrison to gain it over to Napo- 
leon." An extract from this article, stamped with the crown and the 
arms of the Bourbons, was hawked about the streets, and the vender was» 
adorned with the medal of the police. 

Monstrous outrage upon Females, 

At Nismes there Is a large basin near the fountain, where numbers of 
women wash their clothes, and beat them with heavy pieces of wood In 
the shape of battledoors. This spot became the scene of the most shame- 
ful and indecent practices. The catholic rabble turned the women's pet 
ticoats over their heads, and so fastened them as to continue their expo 
sure, and their subjection to a newly- invented species of chastisement 
for nails being placed in the wood of the battoirs in the form of Jleur -de- lis, 
they beat them till the blood streamed from their bodies, and their cries 
rent the air. The surgeons who attended on those women who were 
dead, can attest, by the marks of their wounds, the agonies which they 
must have endured, which, however horrible, is most strictly true. 

Outrages committed m the Villages, 6fC 

We now quit Nismes to take a view of the conduct of the persecutors in 
the surrounding country. At the village of Milhaud, near Nismes, the in- 
habitants were frequently forced to pay large sums to avoid being pillaged. 
In the canton of Vauvert, where there was a consistorial church, 80,000 franks 
were extorted. In the communes of Beauvoisin and Generac similar ex- 
cesses were committed by a handful of licentious men, under the eye of 
the catholic mayor, and to the cries of "Vive le Roi." St. Gilles was the 
scene of the most unblushing villany. The protestants, the most wealthy 
of the inhabitants, were disarmed, while their houses were pillaged. It 
would be wearisome to read the lists of the crimes that occurred during 
many months. In fact, to continue the relation of the scenes that took place 
in the different departments of the south of France, would be little better 
than a repetition of those we have already described, excepting a change of 
nameg. These shameful persecutions continued till after the dissolution of 
the Chamber of Deputies at the close of the year 1816. No excuse can be 
Tiade for the government, by saying it was not in their power to prevent 



508 



APPENDIX. 



these excesses, as it Is evident that where a government possesses 
absolute power, such events could not have been prolonged for many 
months, and even for years, over a vast extent of country, had it not 
been for the systematic and powerful support of the higher departments of 
the state. 

Interference of the British Government, 

To the credit of England, the reports of these cruel persecutions carried 
on against the protestants in France, produced such a sensation on the 
part of government as determined them to interfere ; and now the perse- 
cutors of the protestants made this spontaneous act of humanity and reli- 
gion the pretext for charging the sufferers with a treasonable correspond- 
ence with England; but in this state of their proceedings, to their "great 
dismay, a letter appeared, sent some time before to England by the duke 
of Wellington, stating " That much Information existed on the events of 
the south." 

The ministers of the reformed churches in London, anxious not to be 
misled, requested one of their brethren to visit the scenes of persecution, 
and examine with impartiality the nature and extent of the evils they 
were desirous to relieve. The Rev. Clement Perrot undertook this diffi- 
cult task, and fulfilled their wishes with a zeal, prudence, and devoted- 
ness, above all praise. His return furnished abundant and incontestible 
proof of a shameful persecution, materials for an appeal to the British 
parliament, and a printed report which was circulated through the con- 
tinent, and which first conveyed correc: information to the inhabitants 
of France. 

Foreign interference was now found eminently useful; and the decla- 
rations of tolerance which it elicited from the French government, as wcl! 
as the more cautious march of the catholic persecutors, operated as deci- 
sive and involuntary acknowledgments of the importance of that inter- 
ference which some persons at first censured and despised : but though 
the stern voice of public opinion In England and elsewhere produced n 
reluctant suspension of massacre and pillage, the murderers and plun 
derers were still left unpunished, and even caressed and rewarded for then 
crimes; and while protestants in France suffered the most cruel and de 
grading pains and penalties for alleged trifling crimes, catholics, covered 
*ith blood, and guilty of numerous and horrid murders, were acquitted. 

Perhaps the virtuous indignation expressed by some of the more en 
lightened catholics against these abominable proceedings, had no smal 
share in restraining them. Many innocent protestants had been con 
demned to the galleys, and otherwise punished for supposed crimes, upor 
the oaths of wretches the most unprincipled and abandoned. 

It was not, however, until the injured protestants resorted to arms that 9 
final period was put to the barbarities of the popish miscreants. This atti- 
tude apprized these butchers that they could no longer murder with im- 
punity. Every thing now was changed. Those who for four years had filled 
the breasts of others with terror, now trembled at the effects of the storm 
which they themselves had raised. The demands of the protestants were 
moderate. They asked not for revenge, nor indemnification for past losses; 
they merely stipulated for present safety, and security for the future. 
Their demands, modest as they were, obtained from the government the 
adoption of such measures only as secured them for the present. Many 
)f the friends of the protestant cause were fearful that fresh disorders would 
soon arise, but happily, since the year 1820, no fresh complainte have 
-asued from the south of France on the score of religion 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PUKTACK 



VAGI 

3 



CHAPTER L 



First persecution of the Chri nians, and martyrdom of the apostles 

Martyrdom of St. Stephen 

St. James the Great 

St. Philip . 

St. Matthew 

St. Mark . 

St. James the Less 

St. Matthias 

St. Andrew 

St. Peter . 

St. Paul . 

St. Jude . 

St. Bartholomew 

St. Thomas 

St. Luke the Evangelist 

St. Simon . 

St. John . 

St. Barnabas 

CHAPTER n 

Persecution under Nero . 
Persecution under Domitian 

Persecution under Trajan 

Persecution under Marcus Aurehus and Commodus 
Miraculous interference of the Divine Being . 
Persecutions in France .... ... 

CHAPTER HL 

The fifth, sixth, and seventh persecutions under the Roman 

perors .... 

Persecution in Africa 
Persecution under Miximus . 
Persecution under Decius 
Martyrdom of Fabian and others 
Martyrdom of Cyril . 
Persecution in Crete . 
Martyrdom of Babylas and others 
Account of Origen 

Numerous martyrdoms in the reign of Decius 
Persecution under Valerian 
Martyrdom of St. Laurence 
Persecution in Africa 
Martyrdom of three hund.od Christians 
Singular account of a Christian lady 
Fate of the Emperor Valerian . 

43* 



Em- 



40 
40 
41 
41 
43 
44 
45 
45 



510 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The ninth and tenth persecutions under the Roman Emperors 

Massacre of a legion of Christian soldiers 

Alban, the first British martyr . 

Second persecution under Diocletian 

Noble conduct of three Christian friends 

Horrid martyrdom of Romanus 

Conversion and death of Cyprian 

Martyrdom of three sisters 

Conduct of Philip, bishop of Heraclea 

Martyrdom of St. George . 

Account of Constantine the Great . 

Vision of Constantine 



PAGft 

46 

47 
, 48 
48 
51 
, 53 
, 53 
. 54 
, 55 
. & 
. >7 
. 58 



PART IL 

CHAPTER I. - 

Miscellaneous persecutions during the fourth century ... 59 

Persecutions of the Christians in Persia 60 

Persecutions by the Anans .68 

Persecutions under Julian 63 

Persecution of the Christians by the Goths 65 

CHAPTER IL 

Ac-count of Eusebius 66 

Persecution of the Christians by the Arian Vandals . . 67 

Persecutions from the fifth to the seventh century . 69 

Amount of Anastasius . .70 

CHAPTER IIL 

Account of Bishop Martin 71 

CHAPTER IV. 

Persecutions from the eighth to the tenth century 72 

Account of Boniface ....... . . 72 

CHAPTER V. 

Other martyrdoms between the sixth and tenth centuries . 75 

Massacre by the Saracens .... . . 75 

Account of Perfectus .... .76 

Martyrdom of two ladies at Corduba . • 77 

CHAPTER VL 

Miscellaneous martyrdoms in the seventh century • • 80 

Account of Archbishop Alphage 80 

Account of Gerard . • • 82 

Account of Stanislaus 88 



PART III. 

CHAPTER L 

Persecution of the Waldensea in France 
Accusations of Peter Waldo against popery 
Tenets of the Waldenses . 



84 
85 
86 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. 511 

PAGE 
Origin of the Inquisition .... . .88 

Jnudiies of the Pope, and artifices of Dominic . . 88 

Persecutions in Calabria . 89 

CHAPTER II. 

Persecutions in Dauphiny 93 

Attempts of the Pope to exterminate the Waldenses ... 94 

rhe king of France favours the Waldenses 94 

Progress of the Waldenses 95 

Persecutions in the valley of Piedmont .... .96 

Noble conduct of the duke of Savoy .... .97 

CHAPTER III. 

Persecutions of the Albigenses 104 

Persecution of the earl of Toulouse 105 

Siege of Bezieres 106 

Courage of the earl of Bezieres . .... 108 

Infamous treachery of the legate . . ... 109 

Conduct of Simon Ill 

Success of the Albigenses 112 

Surrender of Toulouse . 113 

Dispute between the legate and prince 114 

Defeat of Earl Simon ... . . . 115 

Council of Lateran ... 116 

Recovery of Toulouse by the Albigenses . 116 

CHAPTER IV. 

Persecutions in France . 119 

Horrible massacre of 1572 . . . 119 

Massacre at Vassy . ... 122 

Massacre at Angers . ... 126 

Siege of Sancerre . 127 

CHAPTER V. 

Persecutions in France (continued) . . . 128 

Martyrdom of John Calas . . 134 



PART IV. 

CHAPTER I. 

Origin, progress, and cruelties of the inquisition 142 

History of the inquisition, .... . . 142 

Auto da Fc at Madrid . 149 

Inquisition of Portugal .... .151 

CHAPTER II. 

Barbarities exercised by the inquisition of Spain and Portugal . 159 

Horrid treachery of an inquisitor 160 

Trial and sufferings of Mr. Isaac Martin ... . 161 

Discovery of some enormities of the inquisition . . . 165 

CHAPTER III. 

Persecutions in Bohemia and Germany 170 

Persecution by the emperor Ferdinand - 172 

Account of John Huss . 174 

Account of Jerome of Prague . . 180 



512 TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PACK. 

General persecutions in Germany 183 

Persecutions in the Netherlands . . . 187 

Assassination of the Prince of Orange .... 190 

CHAPUER V. 

Persecution in Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . 191 

Persecutions in Piedmont . . . . . . .192 

Heroic defence of the protestants of Roras, . . . 203 



PART V. 

Causes which led to the reformation . . 212 

CHAPTER I. 

Usurpation of the popes during the middle ages . . . 212 

Submission of Henry IV. to the pope. 214 

King John surrenders his crown to the pope .... 215 

An emperor trodden under foot by the pope 216 

Account of Wickliffe, and the martyrs who suffered in defence of 

his doctrines . 216 

Wickliffe translates the Bible . .... 218 

Tenets of Wicklitie 220 

Burning of the Wickliffites .221 

Increase of Wicklifle's doctrines 222 

Martyrdom of John Badby 222 

Martyrdom of Sir John Oldcastle 223 

CHAPTER II. 

Great schism in the church of Rome . . . 225 

Progress of the reformation in the reign of Henry VIII. . . 226 

Character of Cardinal Wolsey ..... 227 

Contest concerning ecclesiastical immunity .... 229 

Hun imprisoned for heresy and murdered .... 230 

Progress ol Luther's doctrine 232 

History of Henry's marriage with Catharine . ... 234 

The king's scruples concerning his marriage 235 

Campegio comes to England .... ... 237 

The queen appeals to the pope 238 

CHAPTER III 

Account of Cranmer 239 

Wo ey is disgraced 240 

The universities declare against the king's marriage . . . 240 

The clergy sued in a praemunire 244 

The king leaves the queen 24* 

The pope writes to the king and is answered .... 245 

Interview of the kings of England and France • . . 247 

The king marries Anne Boleyn 247 

The parliament condemns npneale to Rome 248 

Cranmer made archbishop of Canterbury . . . . 248 

The king's marriage condemned by the convocation . . , 248 

Coronation of Anne Boleyn 249 

Birth of Princess Elizabeth .... . . 250 

CHAPTER IV. 

Arguments for rejecting the pope's power . . • 252 

The pope's power rejected by parliament . . 568 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



513 



Story and martyrdom of Thomas Bilney . 

Byfield and others burnt 

The reformers favoured by the court 

Cromwell made vicar-general . 

General visitation of the monasteries 

Death of Queen Catharine 

A translation of the Bible proposed . 

Trial and execution of the queen 

The pope proposes a reconciliation with the king 

Debates of the convocation .... 

Rebellions in Lancashire and Yorkshire . 

Impostures of images and relics discovered . 

Martyrdom of John Lambert .... 

The act of the six articles .... 

Fall of Cromwell 

Martyrdom of Dr. Robert Barnes 

Story of Thomas Garrett . . . . 

Story of William Jerome . . 

Burning of Barnes, Garrett, and Jerome . 

CHAPTER V. 

Attempt against Cranmer .... 
The king's sickness and death . 



256 
25? 
259 
25. 
259 
26? 
263 
265 
268 
268 
273 
273 
275 
277 
278 
279 
284 
285 
285 



290 
Z94 



PART VI. 

Persecutions in Scotland, and progress of the reformation during 

the reign of King Edward 296 

CHAPTER I. 

Persecutions in Scotland during the 15th and part of the 16th centuries 296 

Story and martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton 297 

Martyrdom of Henry Forest 299 

Martyrdom of six persons 299 

Life, sufferings, and martyrdom of George Wishart ... 3C2 

Cardinal Beaton put to death . 316 

CHAPTER II. 

Progress of the reformation in the reign of Edward VI. . . 31S 

A visitation of all the churches 325 

New acts of parliament . . 328 

Ceremonies abolished 330 

CHAPTER III. 

A new office for the communion 331 

Auricular confession examined 332 

A new liturgy composed .... . 6o3 

A new visitation 337 

Anabaptists in England 338 

CHAPTER IV. 

Rebellion in Devonshire and other parts . . . 339 

Visitation of Cambridge . . 34 1 

Bonner prosecuted . . 341 

Fall of the protector .342 

The Common Prayer Book revised . . 348 



514 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

PAGB 

The thirty-nine articles published 351 

The Common Prayer Book revised 352 

Fall and death of the duke of Somerset . ... 353 

The king's sickness ... 360 



PART VII. 

Reign of queen Mary, subversion of the protestant religion, and 
awful persecutions by the papists 36- 

CHAPTER I. 

Accession of Queen Mary to the throne 363 

Martyrdoms in the second year of Queen Mary's reign . . . 369 

Martyrdom of the Rev. John Rogers 369 

Martyrdom of Laurence Saunders 372 

CHAPTER II. 

Sufferings and martyrdom of Bishop Hooper 379 

Sufferings and martyrdom of Dr. Rowland Taylor . . . 390 

CHAPTER III. 

Martyrdom of numerous persons in various parts of England . 402 

Martyrdom of the Rev. George Marsh 404 

Martyrdom of Thomas Hawks 400 

CHAPTER IV. 

Margaret Policy, the first female martyr in England . . 412 

Martyrdom of Christopher Wade . .... 413 

Other martyrs 413 

Martyrdom of John Denley, John Newman, and Patrick Packing- 
ham . 414 

CHAPTER V. 

The life and martyrdom of Hugh Latimer, bishop of Worcester, 
and Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London . ... 415 

CHAPTER VI. 

History and martyrdom of Mr. John Philpot . .... 429 

Conference between Bishop Bonner, Mr. Philpot, and other pri- 
soners ... ... ... 430 

CHAPTER VII. 

Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who 

was burnt at Oxford, March 21, 1556 443 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Martyrdom of various persons after the death of Archbishop Cran- 



mer 



463 

Martyrdom of Richard and Thomas Spurg, John Cavill, and 
George Ambrose, laymen, and of Robert Drake and William 
Tims, ministers • 463 

Martyrdom of Hugh Laverock, a decrepid old man, and John Ap- 
price, a blind man 468 

Martyrdom of Thomas Drowry, a blind boy, and Thomas Croker 469 



TABLE OF CONTENT8. 515 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

Proclamatun of Queen Mary ... . 469 
Martyrdom of three women and an infant in Guernsey . . . 472 
Martyrdom o\ William Bongeor, Thomas Benhote, William Pur- 
chase, Agnes Silverside, Helen Ewring, Elizabeth Folk, Wil- 
liam Munt, John Johnson, Alice Munt, and Rose Allen, at Col- 
chester 474 

Martyrdom of Cuthbert Simson, Hugh Fox, and John Davenish . 477 

William Fetty scourged to death 478 

Martyrdom of John Corneford, Christopher Browne, John Heret, 

Alice Snoth, and Catharine Knight 481 

Death of Queen Mary .482 

Appendix .... .... . . 485 

Imprisonment of the Lady Elizabeth 485 

The Spanish armada 486 

The gunpowder plot 488 

Massacre of protestants in Ireland 492 

Burning of the city of London 496 

Lite and death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey 498 

The meal-tub plot . . ..... 501 

Account of the insurrection, defeat, and execution of the duke of 

M«onmoutb, the earl of Argyle, and their followers . . . 502 

Siege of Londonderry . . . 504 
Persecutions of the protestants in the south of France, in the years 

1814 and 1820 .... ... 505 

Napoleon's return from the isle of Elba . . . 505 

The catholic arms of Beaucaire . ... 505 

Interference of government against the protestants 508 

Royal decree in favour of the persecuted . . . , . 507 

Monstrous outrage upon females . * 507 

Outrages committed in the villages, &c » 607 
Urterference of the British government . 










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